“We’re shooting for the first week of May to have it open,” Larson Construction Vice President Tim McLaughlin-Barck shared of the bridge the Chippewa Falls company is currently building out on Eigthth Avenue, in Stanley.

With the bridge deck for the self-supporting flatspan bridge with reinforced concrete poured just recently, the company was waiting as of last week for the deck to harden or ‘cure,’ before moving on to railings and the road approaches to the span over the Wolf River.

“The bridge portion of the bridge is now complete,” McLaughlin-Barck shared, adding that one last step between railings and the road approaches of 75 feet on either side was to backfill the site with sand and gravel. With demolition starting in early March, the bridge construction project has had a relatively quick turnaround time, with residents soon able to go back and forth on the west side without having to use Fourth Avenue and County O. So what about the other city project going on out by Chapman Park—the Community Center, that is. For an update on the latter, we called up Market and Johnson of Eau Claire, receiving a call back from Project Manager Kevin Lambrecht.

“The rain has been a challenge,” Lambrecht shared. “All the clay in the Stanley area is a challenge in itself,” he said. Rain and moisture may help forestall drought, but don’t quite help when your object is to move some rather heavy machinery over non-asphalted surfaces, and rows of wooden beams bolted together have been on display at Chapman to help the land handle the machine weight without getting bogged down in mud. So what’s the scoop on the project itself?

“We finished up last week on the outside and getting the roof watertight,” Lambrecht said of the Community Center. “Now we’ve moved inside to interior finishes, electrical, and HVAC.” With a projected completion date of June 4th, Lambrecht said in addition that, “we anticipate that the road and parking around the building are going to be completed at that time.” Which leaves just one or two more things: the furnishings and rent!

With an estimated $12,000 to $15,000 worth of furniture to be ordered soon, rates set at the April 7 Council meeting for the Community Center will be $400 dollars for a half-building rental and $800 for the whole building, with a $400 deposit and proof of insurance also re-

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quired for those seeking use of the state of the art facility—after all, quality costs money. Lastly, a three percent fee will be added for those who wish to pay by card.