Minnesota makes highway plans for the area, 15 years ago

In December of 2003, the Minnesota DOT had a public meeting in the La Crescent area to discuss long-range transportation plans. One project high on the local list was a plan to make the Dresbach interchange safer. Some deadly crashes had occurred over the years at the intersection of Highway 61 and I-90, near the bridge that had been built back in the 1960’s. Highway experts and local lawmakers discussed whether any work could be done on the interchange, or a new bridge, by 2006 at the earliest. Construction of the new bridges would not start until 2013, with the project being completed in the fall of 2016.

Bishop Burke was getting a promotion. Pope John Paul chose La Crosse Catholic Bishop Raymond Burke as the new Archbishop of St. Louis. Burke had been on the faculty of Aquinas High School as a priest, long before becoming the La Crosse bishop in 1995. When asked whether he would call himself a conservative bishop, Burke…who’s now a cardinal…said he describes himself as a “Catholic bishop.”

New TV series attracting an audience in late 2003 included “Arrested Development”…”Cold Case”…”NCIS”…”Joan of Arcadia”…and “Two and a Half Men.” Manly men on the tube, 15 years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.