NE Wisconsin 2014! - August 16

[mgk920]

Construction activity for the US(I)-41 upgrades in the Green Bay, WI area is at its very 'geekiest' this year and this is our chance to check it all out!  We will be meeting up at The Bar in downtown Appleton at 11:00am for a quick lunch and socializing and then head out for the experience!

Among the items on the tour:
-The first intersection in Wisconsin with the flashing left yellow arrow signal aspect (it's in Appleton!);
-The now under way six year, half-billion dollar US 10/WI 441 six-lane upgrade/US(I)-41 interchange completion project in Winnebago County (Appleton/Menasha) in its early 'before' state;
-The six-lane upgrades to US(I)-41 in the Green Bay area at its peak year of work;
-The now-open *WOW!* new flyover ramps at US(I)-41/WI 29/32 (Shawano interchange) and the related upgrades to WI 29 to the west;
-The new interchange at US(I)-41 and I-43 (Howard interchange) - the 'old' ramps will still be in use in mid-August and there is an open local street that runs right through and under it all.
-The emergency repairs to the I-43 Fox River bridge from this past fall and winter
-Anything else that I can come up with in the Appleton-Green Bay area.

More info on the meet and directions to The Bar are at https://www.facebook.com/events/793106637388083

Be there!



Mike

[hbelkins]

Wish I could, but unfortunately it's a no-go unless somebody buys me a big winning lottery ticket.

[jpi]

No go for me too, I will be in south Jersey that day at a small diecast car open house at the Matchbox Road Museum.

[SSOWorld]

What jpi -how many times do you get stuck in Jersey?

oh wait....

[Duke87]

Ooooh.

I will be driving to Chicago on August 16. If we left a day earlier, it would be possible for my father and I to go to this.

Unfortunately our reservations were all made months ago and I don't think it's possible to modify our plans at this point. But I will check!

[JREwing78]

I'm probably in. 

[A.J. Bertin]

I am considering attending this meet. Right now I'd give myself about a 30-40 percent chance of going, but those odds might increase.

[Big John]

50/50 at this point.  Don't want to cause the bridge to break like 4 days after the last meet.

[Duke87]

I've been notified that no, logistically we can not alter out plans in order to be able to make it. Would have had to have known further in advance.

[Laura]

Ooh! I will be driving back from South Dakota and conveniently staying in Wisconsin the night of the 15th!

Hmm...logistically, I'm not sure I can pull this off, though. Our plan was to stay in Madison, WI for the night, which puts us two and a half hours away. If we changed our route, we could head to Green Bay, WI and stay there the night of the 15th. However, attending would put us 1/2 to 3/4 day behind driving wise...which could be an issue. It would mean we would have to drive most of the 17th, get home, crash, go to work on the 18th, which we were hoping not to do.

If it were just me, I would say yes, YOLO, I'm in. Factoring in Mom and Mike though...I will probably get outvoted. We'll see.

[Brandon]

I'm in.  I missed the last meet in this area due to schedule last time.

[mgk920]

Ooh! I will be driving back from South Dakota and conveniently staying in Wisconsin the night of the 15th!

Hmm...logistically, I'm not sure I can pull this off, though. Our plan was to stay in Madison, WI for the night, which puts us two and a half hours away. If we changed our route, we could head to Green Bay, WI and stay there the night of the 15th. However, attending would put us 1/2 to 3/4 day behind driving wise...which could be an issue. It would mean we would have to drive most of the 17th, get home, crash, go to work on the 18th, which we were hoping not to do.

If it were just me, I would say yes, YOLO, I'm in. Factoring in Mom and Mike though...I will probably get outvoted. We'll see.

Since it starts at 11am and Madison is only 1.5 hours away from Appleton (US 151, WI 26 and US(I)-41 are nice speedy highways, but watch out for Rosendale), so if you hit the road by about a little after 9am, especially if your motel is right off of I-39/90/94....





OTOH, I can see the issue on the 'trailing' side.

Yea, I probably should have been able to get this up earlier.

Mike

[jpi]

What jpi -how many times do you get stuck in Jersey?

oh wait....

I will be in PA that week and the function in Jersey is "other hobby" related, besides I plan on riding the Cape May Lewis Ferry :-)

--quote fixed -sso

[Duke87]

So, uh, remember when I said I couldn't make it?

Scratch that, I'm coming. With my father, so 2 people.

[Molandfreak]

75% chance I can make it.

[mgk920]

One request, can someone who is coming bring a 'SEND HELP' sign?

Thanx!



Mike

[Duke87]

The Send Help sign was not featured in the photos of the NYC meet and discussion among a few attendees came to the
consensus that it had run its course it was time to officially retire it.

That said, I do have one, so I can bring it if we want to be rebels about it.


ETA: the sign was also absent from the group photos at Starved Rock on 5/17 and at Toledo on 5/31. So, Corning 4/5 is currently its last appearance.

[SSOWorld]

I also have mine and will bring it - however I agree with Duke87 on the discussion that took place at NYC.   It's going by the way of Foursquare in my opinion.  As in no longer used.

[mgk920]

Ahhh, I see.



I guess that we'll just have to get a group photo in front of one of the City of Appleton's new condensed Clearview street name blades.



OTOH, there is a bar called Chadwicks, located five doors east of The Bar on College Ave in downtown Appleton, that has a Pabst Big Green Sign on their wall, visible through their front window.  If anyone is interested, we could try for a photo or two in front of it either Friday or Saturday evening (note, they open around 6 pm).



Mike

[triplemultiplex]

For a little while, it looked like I might actually be able to go to one of these.  But that is not the case.  I have to be in Utah during that time.  I won't be in the Midwest until the end of August.

[Big John]

50/50 at this point.  Don't want to cause the bridge to break like 4 days after the last meet.

I can make it now.  Replyed as a guest in facebook.

[A.J. Bertin]

After doing some more thinking about this, I've decided that I will not be able to attend. I've been doing a lot of traveling lately and need a weekend at home. I hope you all have fun!

[Laura]

I hope you all have fun! Wish we could be there considering how close we are. We actually fell behind a bit on the driving timeline and are staying in MN tonight. However, we'd like to be home Sunday afternoon on our anniversary to enjoy it (and eat cake!) and not be dead for work Monday morning.

Eta: Mike couldn't get off on Monday due to other coworkers in his dept taking vacations this coming week.

[Brandon]

It was a pretty good meet with a touch of rain.

Started out that morning going through toll plazas before I even got to Wisconsin.



Got to the border in a decent amount of time.



With something missing at the rest area.



There it is!



But why the orange instead of yellow?

Made it up to some dancing arrows in Milwaukee.



Past Milwaukee, went up US, or is that I-41?  So far it's US-41.



Rounded Wis-441 to clinch, and found my exit Wis-47 closed.  WisDOT made me 5 minutes late to the party.  Damn cheeseheads. 

Even the parking garage had something.



But remember to keep left.



To be continued...

[Brandon]

We met at The Bar (is there any other bar?) and had lunch.  Then we went out to the meet tour.

Somebody had to P.



We went around Appleton's projects at US-41 and Wis-441 (and US-10), and thence up to Green Bay.

There were numerous examples of orange contractor signage.



Enough greenout to make CalTrans blush.



After making decisions under a bridge,



we made a note that one of these piers is not like the others.



It's like a cathedral to roadgeekery under there.



Who needs "Send Help" when we have "Road Closed".



We finally ended up at a place Bears fans call Hell.



Then I went home through the rain.