LAFAYETTE, Wis. (WLAX/WEAU) – In an effort to make boat travel across Lake Wissota easier, community members and businesses fundraised more than $260,000 to raise this bridge. Now that’s not happening.

Dave Staber, the Chairman of the town of Lafayette says, 3 years ago, the community reached out to the Canadian National Railway. He says it quoted the project for around $280,000. Now Staber says the railway told him the price changed. The project would now be more than $500,000. Staber explains, “It’s taken us so long. It takes us, you know, almost two years to get the $260,000. And we had a lot of people excited about this. We had some donations in excess of $30,000 know, and they lived on the lake and they definitely wanted to see this bridge raised. So, this was kind of a kick in the shorts when, you know, you go through all of that work and all of a sudden they change your mind.”

We also spoke with the owner of The View who says he spent a lot of time fundraising for this project. He said he’s really disappointed with the news. As of right now, there are no new plans to continue this project.