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WI-26 Upgrade Report

Started by SEWIGuy, April 30, 2010, 04:55:21 PM

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JREwing78

I haven't been north of Watertown since construction resumed there. They have a lot of work ahead at Hwy 60 to reconstruct the interchange and build overpasses for Hwy 60 and Hwy 26 over the railroad.

The section between Fort Atkinson and County N is progressing rapidly, and should be done by the fall.

Certain Milton business owners aren't so enamored; they've had trouble with people not being able to find them since the bypass has gone in. The Janesville Gazette recently reported on measures to fix that: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zcww-U8e_jgJ:www.gazettextra.com/article/20140409/ARTICLES/140409649+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

I'm a bit surprised they haven't re-designated the old Hwy 26 north of Milton as a County highway. It is now merely "Milton Rd".


SEWIGuy

Here is a line from the article that really sums up the problem:

"The city had first approached the DOT in 2013 about Janesville Street being cut off."

2013...when the bypass was almost complete?  The entire article has a "blame WIDOT" tone, but where were Milton officials when these plans were being drawn up?  The lack of an exit on the south side was pretty clear from the beginning.  And yeah, I can understand why they aren't happy...there should be one on the south side of town.  But I think most of the blame for that is on Milton.

JREwing78

Local leaders who met with the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation last week left the Capitol with some homework and hope that a business route designation for State Highway 26 could be implemented soon.

Making Milton visible again?
http://www.hngnews.com/milton_courier/news/business/article_36083b4c-d5f7-11e3-8f8d-0017a43b2370.html

SEWIGuy

Quote from: JREwing78 on May 20, 2014, 02:20:03 PM
Local leaders who met with the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation last week left the Capitol with some homework and hope that a business route designation for State Highway 26 could be implemented soon.

Making Milton visible again?
http://www.hngnews.com/milton_courier/news/business/article_36083b4c-d5f7-11e3-8f8d-0017a43b2370.html


"Among some of the more immediate changes agreed upon will be modifications to signs along the Highway 26 bypass, including revising directional signs for Exit 8 at the State Highway 59 interchange. Currently, the signs list Whitewater first before Milton, but the DOT agreed to switch the names to give Milton more prominence."

(OK that is kind of silly but whatever...)

"Frazier said the DOT also agreed to mark the interchange at County Highway N as a Milton exit, as well as place signs ahead of the interchange that indicate Milton could be accessed at the next two exits. Current exit signs at the County N interchange only offer directions to Whitewater and Edgerton."

(This makes more sense.  The Edgerton designation seems strange to me anyway.)

JREwing78

"The town really didn't appreciate taking the old Highway 26 into the municipality anyway simply because of maintenance alone, but this is a concrete highway and it's quite wide, designed for heavier traffic in mind,"  [Town of Milton Chairman Bryan] Meyer said. "When you go to repair it, it's a much more expensive surface to maintain.

"We can replace all the roads in our whole town — we have about 50 miles of roads besides this (one) in the town — and we can put new blacktop over all of it for what it would cost to replace this concrete highway,"  he added.


I personally found it a little strange that the road wasn't designated a County Trunk Highway instead.

Bumps appear on the road to Business Highway 26
http://www.hngnews.com/milton_courier/news/government/article_fbba824a-e106-11e3-8a48-0017a43b2370.html




The bypass has affected a lot of different people a lot of different ways, but the thing we hear the most is the idea that the direct and convenient access to Milton has been completely eliminated,"  [Milton mayor Brett] Frazier said. "People wonder, rightly, why that is when other communities that have had bypasses put in — some just down the road from us — have been able to maintain business access.

Milton pressing DOT for better access
http://www.hngnews.com/milton_courier/news/government/article_797a1e6c-c56d-11e3-a145-0017a43b2370.html

SEWIGuy

Again, I simply don't understand where the leadership of Milton was when this was being designed.  This goes back to when the Mobil station on the south end of town was actually bought by the current owner *after* all the plans were made public...and the new owner claimed he didn't know there wasn't going to be access on the south side.

Where was the City?  Where was the Chamber of Commerce? 

I understand why the Town doesn't want to take over maintenance on a Business 26 because I can't see the benefit they would get from it.  I guess if the City is so intent on marking it as a Business highway, then the City can agree to take over the maintenance.

A lot of this is simply failure on the City of Milton's part.  That is what makes them different from cities like Fort Atkinson and Jefferson.

JREwing78

Agreed. There's no reason why there couldn't be an interchange at Janesville St/Henke Rd, even if it was simply a partial interchange for traffic to and from Janesville.

There's no reason why they couldn't have constructed a direct link from Harmony Townhall Rd to Janesville St (via Parkview Dr. if necessary), or fed Harmony Townhall Rd directly into Parkview Dr. The city wasn't on the ball.

Honestly, I think with appropriate signage the existing setup is fine. The majority of the businesses are easily accessible via the Hwy 59 exit, and the locals are going to figure out their way around soon enough. If they can't figure out how to get people around the city, it's going to be their loss. Holding onto a pipe dream of reconnecting Janesville St to Hwy 26 is only going to be harmful.

GeekJedi

Unbelievable.

The bypass has only been in the works for years.  They've held public meetings and published plans.  The opportunity to bring their concerns to WisDOT was there in spades.  Now, after the people in government in Milton realized they screwed up, want a "do-over"?  Sorry - no.  You made the bed, you sleep in it.  I can guaran-damn-tee you that nobody is having a hard time "finding" Milton because of this.  The only reason people "found" Milton before was because traffic on a major highway had to slow down to get through it.
"Wisconsin - The Concurrency State!"

mgk920

(Keep in mind that this intersection area is in on unincorporated (township) land in the now somewhat small rural area that is left between the City of Janesville and the City of Milton.  The west half of the actual WI 26/Harmony Townhall Rd interchange is in the City of Janesville.)

As that area futher develops, I can see upgrades to the intersections in that area, perhaps redoing Townhall/Townline, Townline/Parkview and Townline/Heinke (Janesville Rd) as roundabouts to make those turns less of a traffic flow 'disconnect' in the road network.

As for traffic between the older central parts of Janesville and Milton?  That's what County 'Y' is for.

:nod:

Mike

SSOWorld

Scott O.

Not all who wander are lost...
Ah, the open skies, wind at my back, warm sun on my... wait, where the hell am I?!
As a matter of fact, I do own the road.
Raise your what?

Wisconsin - out-multiplexing your state since 1918.

SEWIGuy

Quote from: mgk920 on May 22, 2014, 04:44:16 PM
(Keep in mind that this intersection area is in on unincorporated (township) land in the now somewhat small rural area that is left between the City of Janesville and the City of Milton.  The west half of the actual WI 26/Harmony Townhall Rd interchange is in the City of Janesville.)

As that area futher develops, I can see upgrades to the intersections in that area, perhaps redoing Townhall/Townline, Townline/Parkview and Townline/Heinke (Janesville Rd) as roundabouts to make those turns less of a traffic flow 'disconnect' in the road network.

As for traffic between the older central parts of Janesville and Milton?  That's what County 'Y' is for.

:nod:

Mike


Taking County Y doesn't get you to the "business district" part of Milton, which was basically located along the old 26.

JREwing78

Milton is strange in that it has two "business district" sections, one on the west side of town along Merchant Row, and the other on the east end along Parkview Dr. and Janesville St.

At any rate, people will now have a harder time saying they couldn't find an east-side Janesville business.

Business 26 signs are going up
http://www.hngnews.com/milton_courier/news/government/article_b6eee98a-01f9-11e4-962e-001a4bcf6878.html

mgk920

Quote from: JREwing78 on July 07, 2014, 08:03:23 PM
Milton is strange in that it has two "business district" sections, one on the west side of town along Merchant Row, and the other on the east end along Parkview Dr. and Janesville St.

At any rate, people will now have a harder time saying they couldn't find an east-side Janesville business.

Business 26 signs are going up
http://www.hngnews.com/milton_courier/news/government/article_b6eee98a-01f9-11e4-962e-001a4bcf6878.html

That is because the modern-day City of Milton was formed by the merger of the previous Village of Milton (east part of the city) and Village of Milton Junction (west part of the city).  I want to say that this was in the 1970s.

Mike

JREwing78

Business Hwy 26 signs are up along the old Hwy 26 route into Milton from the north, then along Hwy 59 back to the new Hwy 26. The exits also have freshly updated listings for Milton and Business 26 at each end.

Progress on the 4-laning north of Hwy N is good. Most of the grading for the NBD lanes to the county line is done, and SBD north of the line is done to about Koshkonong Lake Rd. Having all 4 lanes open by Labor Day doesn't seem like an unrealistic goal, assuming the weather is cooperative.

JREwing78

Quick update:

Concrete pavement is nearing completion on the SBD lanes north of Watertown. It appears they could have it ready to shift traffic to two-way operation in the SBD lanes by Labor Day. 

Progress is slower on the Hwy 16/60 interchange. SBD on and off-ramps at the new Hwy 16/60 overpass are constructed, with all Hwy 26 traffic routed on them. They meet at a T-intersection currently while the old Hwy 16/60 overpass is removed and work is completed on the new overpass.

Concrete paving is also nearing completion on the SBD lanes south of Fort Atkinson to the Rock County line. NBD between County N and the Rock County line is also done. Asphalt shoulders are next. Both carriageways between County N and Fort Atkinson still appear to be on track to be done by Labor Day, with median work remaining afterward.

For all the talk of heavy traffic enforcement this past weekend, I saw no signs of this on Hwy 26. The 55mph limit in Rock County was completely meaningless; most traffic was doing 70-75.

DaBigE

Quote from: JREwing78 on August 04, 2014, 11:40:32 PM
For all the talk of heavy traffic enforcement this past weekend, I saw no signs of this on Hwy 26. The 55mph limit in Rock County was completely meaningless; most traffic was doing 70-75.

IIRC, the heavy enforcement was focused on I-94. That said, when driving over to Milwaukee from the Madison area this past Saturday, I didn't see any more LE than I typically would.
"We gotta find this road, it's like Bob's road!" - Rabbit, Twister

JREwing78

Traffic on Hwy 16/26 north of Watertown got switched over to the SBD carriageway sometime in the past week, and is being heavily patrolled by Dodge County sheriff's deputies.

They appear to also be progressing on Hwy 60 east of Hwy 16/26 (which will also form the temporary bypass to allow new overpasses of the railroad on Hwy 26). From what I can tell they may not have the temporary bypass in place until late in the fall, if not next year; they have a lot of work to do yet.

Hwy 26 between Fort Atkinson and County N north of Milton is really close to completion. I fully expect both carriageways to be open for Labor Day weekend, albeit maybe with only one lane of traffic open each way.

JREwing78

#67
So I was off by a week on the Fort Atkinson - County N stretch.

Crews were busy posting signs, setting cable median barriers, and re-striping pavement this afternoon in preparation for opening both carriageways to traffic. It appears they'll have the right lane open on each carriageway by the end of this weekend, with continued median work for a few more weeks.

Repair work on the newly-designated Business 26 stretch (old Hwy 26/Janesville St/Rd) north of Hwy 59 in Milton has now begun, as well as the old Hwy 59 (E. High St). They have completely blocked all vehicular access south of County N with barriers and a bucket loader. More: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:okK-kWFDx7oJ:www.gazettextra.com/20140825/old_highway_26_old_highway_59_to_getting_repairs_before_being_turned_over_to_local_governments+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

JREwing78

Both carriageways south of Fort Atkinson are now open, one lane each way.

Pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/126899288@N04/

mgk920

#69
I drove WI 26 last week Wednesday (2014-09-24):

-The Milton-Fort Atkinson section looks to be on track to have the last of its bandages removed by the end of October.  The part north of Watertown, fall of 2015.

-The interchange at WI 16/60 is mostly complete and its ramps are now being used as part of a temporary 'bypass' routing while the new WI 26 overcrossing of Union Pacific's Adams Line is being built.  This one will last until at least late summer of 2015.

-Interesting overhead double-trombone-arm stop and go lights with vertical heads - one on each side of each carriageway at the first southbound intersection off of the freeway on Janesville's north edge.

Mike

I94RoadRunner

Looks like WISDot has done a decent job upgrading WIS 26 for the most part until it gets anywhere near an interstate. Then that is where you encounter traffic signals  :pan:
Chris Kalina

“The easiest solution to fixing the I-238 problem is to redefine I-580 as I-38

JREwing78

They're definitely very close to completion on the Milton-Fort Atkinson section. Traffic was one lane each way on the outside lanes back in mid-September while they completed median work. They are now on the inside lanes while they complete final signage, landscaping work, striping, and grinding rumble strips.

The two stretches with stoplights in Johnson Creek and Janesville are annoying after the long 65 mph stretches. Johnson Creek's long 55 mph transitions bug me simply because they're unnecessary; they extend two miles out from the 45 mph zone when they only need to be about a half-mile. Janesville's probably bugs me less because, well, I live there.  8-)

mgk920

Quote from: I94RoadRunner on October 01, 2014, 11:26:47 PM
Looks like WISDot has done a decent job upgrading WIS 26 for the most part until it gets anywhere near an interstate. Then that is where you encounter traffic signals  :pan:

I also hope that WisDOT will be starting work on similar freeway/expressway upgrades to WI 26 from WI 16/60 to US 151 and then a Rosendale bypass within my remaining lifetime....

:poke:

Mike

I94RoadRunner

Quote from: mgk920 on October 02, 2014, 11:52:42 AM
Quote from: I94RoadRunner on October 01, 2014, 11:26:47 PM
Looks like WISDot has done a decent job upgrading WIS 26 for the most part until it gets anywhere near an interstate. Then that is where you encounter traffic signals  :pan:

I also hope that WisDOT will be starting work on similar freeway/expressway upgrades to WI 26 from WI 16/60 to US 151 and then a Rosendale bypass within my remaining lifetime....

:poke:

Mike
I wish for that as well, but not going to happen ..... Those traffic signals are there for good on WIS 26
Chris Kalina

“The easiest solution to fixing the I-238 problem is to redefine I-580 as I-38

Stephane Dumas

Quote from: I94RoadRunner on October 04, 2014, 04:37:41 AM

I wish for that as well, but not going to happen ..... Those traffic signals are there for good on WIS 26

How about replacing these traffic signals with roundabouts since WSDOT had embraced the roundabout?



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