Completed in
1977 and named for
socialist Milwaukee mayor Daniel Webster Hoan, this
bridge connected
downtown Milwaukee to Bay View, with the ultimate goal of establishing a direct
freeway route to
Mitchell International Airport.
Until the opening of the Lake Parkway which finally connected the Hoan to Mitchell in 1999, the bridge had long been known as the "bridge to nowhere" for its unique position of funneling 3 lanes of traffic directly into the crowded residential streets south of the Port of Milwaukee.
Its distinctive golden arches made headlines on December 13, 1999 when a section of bridge buckled as cold weather and stress from vehicular traffic caused a particularly important joint to fail. A 600 ton section of the bridge was later explosively removed, nearly missing the city's sewage treatment plant.
An uncompleted Hoan Bridge approach ramp had a cameo in "The Blues Brothers" as the ramp off which a carload of ill-fated Illinois Nazis was launched.