Fort McCoy completes two bridge projects, improving installation infrastructure, safety
The projects involved the replacement of NRP-03 near Pine View Recreation Area and improvements to NRP-04, also known as Bridge 4, which provides access to the Wisconsin State Patrol Academy and Wisconsin Military Academy in the cantonment area.
Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Director Liane Haun discussed the projects during a January 2026 Garrison-Tenant Staff Meeting, when the work was still being planned. Haun said Bridge 4 would receive a complete replacement during 2026 and explained that access to the State Patrol Academy and Wisconsin Military Academy would be temporarily affected during construction. She also highlighted the project at Pine View Campground, where an aging Bailey bridge was in failing condition.
“The big one is down at the campground,” Haun said. “We have an old Bailey Bridge that’s in a failing condition right now. It’s actually a pretty cool bridge, but it’s going to get a complete replacement, and it’ll be much safer than what we’ve had in the past as well.”
The two projects were subsequently included in a single Fort McCoy contracting effort. The project called for repair of Real Property Bridge 04 and construction of a new bridge to replace the NRP Bailey bridge at the campground. The Army awarded the $1.58 million contract to Larson Construction Co. Inc. of Chippewa Falls, Wis., in September 2025.
The NRP-03 project was separately awarded to Larson Construction in March 2026 for $847,271. The project involved replacing the existing stream bridge with a new concrete box-culvert structure, along with riprap, grading and restoration work.
By June, the new bridge crossing the La Crosse River near Pine View Recreation Area had been completed. Fort McCoy Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation officials said the new crossing would improve transportation efficiency within the recreation area.
Fort McCoy Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare Recreation Supervisory Recreation Specialist Alex Karis said the bridge would eliminate the need for staff to drive around the recreation area when traveling between the campground and Whitetail Ridge Ski Area.
The bridge projects are part of Fort McCoy’s continuing effort to maintain and modernize infrastructure that supports the installation's training, recreation and day-to-day operations.
During an April 2026 Installation Real Property Planning Board meeting, Haun further discussed the two bridge projects among the installation’s ongoing military construction and infrastructure work. She also noted that much of Fort McCoy’s existing infrastructure dates to the 1940s, making continued investment in facilities and infrastructure particularly important.
With both bridges now completed and in use, the projects provide Fort McCoy with safer, more reliable crossings while improving access to important areas of the installation, officials said. For DPW officials, the work represents another practical step in modernizing Fort McCoy’s infrastructure and ensuring the installation can safely and effectively support its mission well into the future.
Fort McCoy’s motto beginning in 2026 is “Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since 1909.” The installation’s mission: “Fort McCoy strengthens Total Force Readiness by serving as a training center, Mobilization Force Generation Installation, and Strategic Support Area enabling warfighter lethality to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars.”
And Fort McCoy’s vision is, “To be the premier training center supporting the most capable, combat-ready, and lethal armed forces.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online athttps://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.” Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
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