Walnut Street Bridge will reopen today News-Chronicle The Walnut Street Bridge is opening during the day today, ahead of schedule, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced Thursday. The bridge has been closed to vehicles and pedestrians since Feb. 1 and had been scheduled to be closed through Monday. According to Dale Weber, WisDOT district bridge engineer, "The accelerated schedule and earlier opening resulted from a good plan and terrific cooperation between the contractor, C & L Contracting, Inc. of Gillett, our project managers, Ayres and Associates, and the department." As with the Mason Street Bridge repainting in 2001, this bridge had to be painted during the winter when there is no river traffic. The bridge bascule is enclosed to recover all debris resulting from the cleaning and blasting effort and must remain closed due to this enclosure. Additionally, the paint can be applied at 40 degrees, requiring a minimal amount of heat to warm the steel. When outside temperatures remain consistently above 40, which usually occurs in April, work will begin on the remaining steel superstructure, exterior flanking spans and the bridge tender's house. The estimated amount of paint applied to the bridge included 300 gallons of primer, 285 gallons of intermediate, and 285 gallons of final, called "Wisconsin Blue."