Quick Wisconsin construction zone daytrip report

[mgk920]

I had the day off on Saturday, 2011-07-16, so I hopped into the car and went daytripping.

A few notes:

- The northbound ramps at US 41 at 9th Ave in Oshkosh, WI, as well as 9th Ave across the highway, are now compete and open.  The four roundabouts on 9th there appear to be working well.

- Some of the structure on the southernmost of the three new crossroad bridges on US 45 between Winneconne and Winchester is now in place.  There is also much ROW clearance and some grading done for its frontage roads.

- The section of the US 10 Marshfield Spur between the WI 34 splits on either side of Junction City, WI appears to be ready to open at any time.  Crews were paving a temporary crossover roadway between the new US 10 freeway and the old road just west of the western WI 34 intersection west of Junction City and the portable electronic readerboards there were saying that that west intersection closes on 20-JUL (Today!).  For those not aware, the new US 10 there will have a diamond interchange with WI 34 (west), with the existing highway built up on fill to meet it.  WI 34 to the south will then bridge over the CN mainline that closely parallels old US 10.

Note that when all is done, WI 34 south of that west intersection will become a rerouted WI 13.

- Much of the structure that will carry the new US 10 over the old road and the paralleling CN mainline just west of Blenker is in place, crews should be starting to set its beams within the next few weeks.

- Little work was visible between there and a few klicks west of Auburndale.

- Closer to Marshfield, much grading was visible and one of its crossroad overcrossing bridge structures is in place and open.

- The northwest US 51/WI 29 split interchange looks *SWEET* - well worth a roadgeek meet to check it out!  The only changes that I would have done with it, if I were the power-that-be, would have related to simplifying the surface street layout around it.

- Little of WI 29 from there to US 41 at Green Bay has changed since the last time I drove it.

- LOTS of 'geekiness' as one approaches US 41 in the Green Bay area, though!  Crossroads are closed, lots of earth being moved and so forth.  BIG piles of fly ash fill for the EB to SB ramp at the main US 41/WI 29 interchange is in place.  Also, the Shawano Ave (WI 29)/Taylor St intersection on the Green Bay/Howard border just east of US 41 is closed to build its new roundabout.  It also won't be long before the last traffic signal on WI 29 between I-94 and US 41 (Packerland Dr) is gone.

- Elsewhere in the Green Bay Construction Geek Zone™, the US 41/Scheuring Rd interchange in De Pere is now complete and open - EXCEPT for its bridge over US 41.  The ramp intersection roundabouts there are open on a RIRO-only basis.

Mike

[triplemultiplex]

I was able to check out some Oshkosh area work last weekend en route to the northwoods.  While looking at the construction on the new bridges and overpasses for US 45 I couldn't help but think, "Why the hell didn't they just build these during the 4 lane conversion?"  That was only a couple years ago.

The 29 west interchange is really nice.  A fella can take those system ramps without turning off the cruise.  Was that your first look at it?  The part that sucks is getting dropped down to 55 between Wausau and Marathon City for that cheap-ass center left turn lane bullshit.  Talk about short sighted.

Also only one substandard vertical clearance left on I-39 with this year's reconstruction of Fox Glove Rd in Rib Mountain.  That Maple Ridge Dr interchange in Kronenwetter is getting rebuilt next year, I believe.  And the accel/decel lanes for the Bus US 51 interchange in Rothschild will make that situation a hell of a lot safer.

Fly ash; that's what that black stuff is!  I saw that used as base material on part of US 10 east of Point by the hamlet of Custer and wondered what the hell that was.  'Where'd they get that much milled blacktop?'  But it was almost certainly fly ash.

[mgk920]

I was able to check out some Oshkosh area work last weekend en route to the northwoods.  While looking at the construction on the new bridges and overpasses for US 45 I couldn't help but think, "Why the hell didn't they just build these during the 4 lane conversion?"  That was only a couple years ago.

$$$$

It likely could have been done all at once had the transport fund not been raided like it was throughout the double-aughts.

The 29 west interchange is really nice.  A fella can take those system ramps without turning off the cruise.  Was that your first look at it?  The part that sucks is getting dropped down to 55 between Wausau and Marathon City for that cheap-ass center left turn lane bullshit.  Talk about short sighted.

I've been checking that interchange out every few months throughout its planning and construction.  My first drive on the EB to NB ramp was shortly after it opened late last year, but it was at night.  This was my first drive on it during daylight.

The southeast split interchange looks almost EXACTLY like the map scribblings that I dropped off at the Wisconsin Rapids WisDOT office a couple of years before the project's design hearings started, BTW.

Fly ash; that's what that black stuff is!  I saw that used as base material on part of US 10 east of Point by the hamlet of Custer and wondered what the hell that was.  'Where'd they get that much milled blacktop?'  But it was almost certainly fly ash.

Fly ash (it comes from coal-fired power plants) has a mid-gray color.  That pile that you are referring to could well have been milled asphalt.

As a reference, crews are laying a 100 mm or so thick mat of asphalt on top of the base course, after which comes the poured concrete, in the Oshkosh-Neenah US 41 project.

Mike