All lanes of U.S. 51 open for 4th of July weekend
LINCOLN COUNTY, Wis. (WSAW) - Traffic will flow a little easier this 4th of July weekend thanks to planning and quick work by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. As of Friday morning, a repaving project in Lincoln county has been put on pause and all four lanes of traffic are open.
Jed Peters, Chief Project Development Engineer for Wisconsin DOT’s North Central Region, said crews were on-site late Thursday night ensuring work was done to reopen for the holiday weekend.
“The pavement out there was deteriorated. It exceeded its serviceable life,” said Peters.
The six-mile repaving project is a $16M investment into the infrastructure of the region. The last time that stretch of highway was worked on to the same scale was in 2008.
The 4th of July weekend will be a much different scene than Memorial Day weekend. Then, drivers experienced delays and congestion in work zones. However, Peters says, work through that holiday weekend was planned for.
“So we did have some backup delays, some congestion. Part of that was knowing that if we accepted that inconvenience that disruption for that memorial day holiday it would allow us to really hit this 4th of July holiday. And more importantly the rest of the summer,” explained Peters.
The project was originally scheduled for completion by November 15, 2022; but Peters said due to planned effort by crews and field staff the project will be completed by July 1, 4 months ahead of schedule. Work will resume on July 6 with all work anticipated to be completed by July 15. For any of those closures, US 51 Northbound will be open to two lanes of traffic by noon on Friday, July 8, and July 15; and US 51 Southbound will be open to two lanes of traffic no later than 10 AM on Sunday, July 10.
While the project on U.S. 51 will be cleared for the holiday weekend, there are many other construction zones that will still be up. To know where you’re headed and what might slow you down click here.
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