WINONA, Minn. – The Winona County Board voted unanimously to revise plans for a new $2 million bridge at the Pickwick Mill to include a temporary ATV bridge during construction. The temporary bridge will be sufficient to accommodate an all-terrain vehicle and a trailer with a stretcher – but not a fire truck. The Pickwick Fire Department chief, Adam Zimmerman, had asked for a more substantial bridge during the three-month construction project. The Board decided the $286,000 cost was too much., The ATV alternative will cost $81,000. With Pickwick fire trucks unable to respond to fires upstream from the bridge, there will be delays in fire calls. Recently when volunteer fire departments from Nodine and Wilson responded to a Pickwick area house fire, it took 20 minutes to get there. The house had been lost by the time crews arrived.
Pickwick bridge. Crosses Big Trout Creek just upstream from the Pickwick Mill falls. The fire station is downstream a block or two.