WisDOT plans viewing

[Molandfreak]

Back on topic:
Two of the sheets in question from post #67:

That's kind of a shame. I like "Exits to River Falls" better than "River Falls Exits"

In what instance would the "Radio Road" arrow be used?

WI-30 in Madison is another....but that would be pretty short.

If that went closer to the capitol or the downtown area, I would see your point, but that only leads to a residential area (not including shopko )

US-12 from I-43 south to the IL line.

No. That's really a useless freeway as it exists. Had it been completed all the way from Madison to IL-53, it possibly would have been an extension of I-290.

US-53 north of Eau Claire (???)  I have only been on that stretch once...

If there were a good place to end it in Eau Claire, that would be ok, but I wouldn't end that where the freeway ends in Spooner. It'll never happen, but an I-535 extension is what I would go for there if you really wanted an interstate.

We will see if US-45 from US-41 to West Bend gets one...but I doubt that will happen.

Meh... West Bend is close enough to 41 that it doesn't really need a 3di. If its population were double what it is now, I would see your point... I'd like to see an I-339 or something on the U.S. 10 corridor to Appleton, and 45 from Oshkosh to Waupaca would get an even I-x41, because it is a shortcut.

Anyway, we should really continue this discussion in fictional highways. I'll start a topic!

[on_wisconsin]

In what instance would the "Radio Road" arrow be used?

I'm guessing its part of the overhead directionals on the next page.

[SEWIGuy]

You asked "What else can they have?"  And I answered it. 

I have no interest in discussing whether or not those highways are 3di worthy in your opinion.

[Molandfreak]

You asked "What else can they have?"  And I answered it. 

I have no interest in discussing whether or not those highways are 3di worthy in your opinion.

Jeez, man! Sorry if I was going too far! I didn't intend to upset you... I'm just... Overly opinionated

I guess what I meant by that is I understand WISDOT's reasoning why they didn't make those corridors 3dis. They certainly could have!

In what instance would the "Radio Road" arrow be used?

I'm guessing its part of the overhead directionals on the next page.

That makes sense. I guess I was confused because there wasn't a highway designation there. Maybe that's where a highway ends.

[on_wisconsin]

The April letting came out yesterday (3/4):
ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/04April_09/
Nothing major of note so far, just your average letting it appears.

[colinstu]

Anyone ever see plans for the I-94 WEST 3->4 lane widening? (from the marquette interchange to stadium interchange).

Construction for that has already begun, not sure what the delay is between plans and things actually happening.

[mgk920]

Anyone ever see plans for the I-94 WEST 3->4 lane widening? (from the marquette interchange to stadium interchange).

Construction for that has already begun, not sure what the delay is between plans and things actually happening.

I've been a bit out of the loop on that one, what was decided for the design of the section through that cemetery just west of Miller Park?

Mike

[J N Winkler]

Anyone ever see plans for the I-94 WEST 3->4 lane widening? (from the marquette interchange to stadium interchange).

Construction for that has already begun, not sure what the delay is between plans and things actually happening.

Could that be this lane reconfiguration?

http://projects.511wi.gov/web/I-794-project

I may have seen draft plans for something much more ambitious, but without having at least a control section (first four digits of a WisDOT project number), I wouldn't even know where to start looking in my files.

The delay between bid opening and start of construction varies by agency and climate.  I would expect a lead time of two to three months for contract award and issuance of notice to proceed, but Wisconsin has severe winters and contracts that receive notice to proceed in December, say, may not see an actual start of construction until the following March.

[colinstu]

Anyone ever see plans for the I-94 WEST 3->4 lane widening? (from the marquette interchange to stadium interchange).

Construction for that has already begun, not sure what the delay is between plans and things actually happening.

I've been a bit out of the loop on that one, what was decided for the design of the section through that cemetery just west of Miller Park?

Mike

It's not being widened that far. The scope of this temporary fix ends at the stadium interchange... or somewhere past 35th St.

AFAIK anyway...

EDIT: They're doing Alternative 6 (Preferred alt) from what I can tell. They've already dug up the whole 35th St onramp to 94WB. They're working on the median of the bridge around that area too.

[mgk920]

Anyone ever see plans for the I-94 WEST 3->4 lane widening? (from the marquette interchange to stadium interchange).

Construction for that has already begun, not sure what the delay is between plans and things actually happening.

I've been a bit out of the loop on that one, what was decided for the design of the section through that cemetery just west of Miller Park?

Mike

It's not being widened that far. The scope of this temporary fix ends at the stadium interchange... or somewhere past 35th St.

AFAIK anyway...

EDIT: They're doing Alternative 6 (Preferred alt) from what I can tell. They've already dug up the whole 35th St onramp to 94WB. They're working on the median of the bridge around that area too.

Brainfart....



For some reason I was thinking of I-94 between the Stadium and Zoo interchanges, as part of the Zoo interchange rebuild....



Mike

[DaBigE]

The April letting came out yesterday (3/4):
ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/04April_09/
Nothing major of note so far, just your average letting it appears.

20130409011plan.pdf is fairly notable, at least in the Madison area...it's the jughandle project for Mineral Point Rd at Junction Rd on the west side of Madison.

[J N Winkler]

20130409011plan.pdf is fairly notable, at least in the Madison area...it's the jughandle project for Mineral Point Rd at Junction Rd on the west side of Madison.

It is also unusual in including sign elevation sheets for overhead signs (something other state DOTs routinely put in plans sets but which WisDOT does rarely).

Edit:  I have finished reviewing the construction plans for this month's letting.  I extracted 40 pattern-accurate sign design sheets, which is not a bad monthly number.  I also noticed that in the first project (Call 1, project number 10710665) WisDOT included sign detail sheets showing lane-drop signs with black-bordered yellow panels, as opposed to the borderless yellow panels which have long been the standard in Wisconsin.  Does this mean that the standards for lane-drop signs have changed?

[DaBigE]

Edit:  I have finished reviewing the construction plans for this month's letting.  I extracted 40 pattern-accurate sign design sheets, which is not a bad monthly number.  I also noticed that in the first project (Call 1, project number 10710665) WisDOT included sign detail sheets showing lane-drop signs with black-bordered yellow panels, as opposed to the borderless yellow panels which have long been the standard in Wisconsin.  Does this mean that the standards for lane-drop signs have changed?

Yes, it does. According to the standard plate for those kind of signs, it became a published standard in mid-2010.

[on_wisconsin]

The State came out with the new letting yesterday (4/8); this month there is a ton of plans on the FTP (51 total!).

May 2013 letting: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/05May_14/

Of note is:

• The first Verona Rd/ USH 151 Project plan set out so far, and featuring some of the first APL signs the WisDOT Southwest region: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/05May_14/20130514008plan.pdf
  
• The I-94 rebuild around the south side of Eau Claire: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/05May_14/20130514046.plan.pdf
• A US/(Future) I-41 plan set: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/05May_14/20130514028plan.pdf
• Some I-39/90 stuff around Janesville: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/05May_14/20130514001plan.pdf     ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/05May_14/20130514003plan.pdf

[on_wisconsin]

The plans for the June letting came out yesterday (5/6), this month is more or less the opposite of last month due to the lack of interesting sets and quantity.

June 2013 letting: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/06June_11/

However, the DOT released a huge advance plan set for the Future I-41 corridor today (5/7). It is over 300 mb and some 3,840 pages long, also it contains at least 18 pages(!) of BGS sign details.

Link: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/07July_23/20130723001plan.pdf

[DaBigE]

The plans for the June letting came out yesterday (5/6), this month is more or less the opposite of last month due to the lack of interesting sets and quantity.

I would beg to differ, but only because a project I was heavily involved with was let this time around.

[GeekJedi]

Interesting to note that the new BGS's for WI-29 will now feature Wausau as the control city.

[J N Winkler]

The plans for the June letting came out yesterday (5/6), this month is more or less the opposite of last month due to the lack of interesting sets and quantity.

A quiet month every now and then is useful for maintenance.  This month I put into storage a lot of batch files I had written to handle WisDOT plans in the past (reducing the number in my main WisDOT plans directory from 28 to 7), and also re-wrote my NTC parser so it uses GhostScript and pdftotext (the latter is part of the xpdf distribution) for the PDF-to-text conversion and extracts all of the project numbers for a given WisDOT call number, not just the first listed.  Sample output (first extract has call number and lead project number, second extract has call number and all project numbers associated with that call):

Code Select Expand

20130611001,16700371
20130611002,36630061
20130611003,58450571
20130611004,60850076
20130611005,61450073
20130611006,75750160
20130611007,10603373
20130611008,10603399
20130611009,40651571
20130611010,15700170
20130611011,11200976
20130611012,11800460
20130611013,14501670
20130611014,80700876
20130611015,86400261
20130611016,67070062
20130723001,11330377

Code Select Expand

20130611001,16700371
20130611002,36630061
20130611003,58450571
20130611004,60850076
20130611005,61450073,61450074
20130611006,75750160
20130611007,10603373
20130611008,10603399
20130611009,40651571,41800771,92101471
20130611010,15700170
20130611011,11200976,11200977,11200978,11200981
20130611012,11800460,15600260
20130611013,14501670
20130611014,80700876
20130611015,86400261,86400271
20130611016,67070062
20130723001,11330377,11330971,11330974,11330976

Unlike the old version of the NTC parser (which had been built without benefit of findstr or sed), this one handles projects where the scope is given as "Statewide" or "Region-wide," not just in a "County" or group of "Counties."  This saves the annoyance of having to key-in project numbers for, e.g., regionwide thermoplastic pavement marking renewal contracts, which never have any signing.

Edit to provide some statistics:  The May 2013 letting had a total of 72 pattern-accurate sign design sheets, while the June 2013 letting has 25 out of 13 contracts (not a bad average considering how few contracts--just 16--there were in this letting).  The special advertisement for July 23 (11330377 et al.) had a total of 23 sign design sheets:  19 for permanent signs and 4 for detour signs.

[J N Winkler]

WisDOT has now uploaded plans and an advertisement for the July 9 letting.  Grand total of sign panel detail sheets for designable signs in this letting:  4.  There is a lot of guardrail work, a lot of non-highway work (rest area refurbishments and the like), at least one crack-filling job, some bridge rehabilitations, etc.

[J N Winkler]

Plans and advertisements are now available for lettings on August 13 and 27.  I count 62 pattern-accurate sign detail sheets, 31 of which are associated with a single contract--the Hoan Bridge redecking and I-794 refurbishment, which is currently the only contract listed for the August 27 letting and tips the scales at over 2000 sheets.  The August 13 letting includes a considerable amount of Zoo Interchange advance work, though the largest contract is actually the I-43 early structures/early fill contract that is part of the US 41 expansion.

[mgk920]

Plans and advertisements are now available for lettings on August 13 and 27.  I count 62 pattern-accurate sign detail sheets, 31 of which are associated with a single contract--the Hoan Bridge redecking and I-794 refurbishment, which is currently the only contract listed for the August 27 letting and tips the scales at over 2000 sheets.  The August 13 letting includes a considerable amount of Zoo Interchange advance work, though the largest contract is actually the I-43 early structures/early fill contract that is part of the US 41 expansion.

On the Hoan Bridge (I-794) redo, is WisDOT changing 'Lakefront' to 'Lincoln Memorial Dr' on those BGSes?

Mike

[on_wisconsin]

Plans and advertisements are now available for lettings on August 13 and 27.  I count 62 pattern-accurate sign detail sheets, 31 of which are associated with a single contract--the Hoan Bridge redecking and I-794 refurbishment, which is currently the only contract listed for the August 27 letting and tips the scales at over 2000 sheets.  The August 13 letting includes a considerable amount of Zoo Interchange advance work, though the largest contract is actually the I-43 early structures/early fill contract that is part of the US 41 expansion.

On the Hoan Bridge (I-794) redo, is WisDOT changing 'Lakefront' to 'Lincoln Memorial Dr' on those BGSes?

That looks to be the case: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/08August_27/20130827001planA.pdf
EDIT
Links to this month's lettings:

Aug 13: ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/08August_13/
Aug 27 (Hoan Project): ftp://ftp.dot.wi.gov/dtsd/hcci/plansandproposals/2013/08August_27/

Other then the MKE area stuff mentioned above, this months letting is rather lackluster with poor statewide distribution and the only real highlight being the US 51 4-lane conversion between Madison (I-94) and DeForest.

[triplemultiplex]

Other then the MKE area stuff mentioned above, this months letting is rather lackluster with poor statewide distribution and the only real highlight being the US 51 4-lane conversion between Madison (I-94) and DeForest.

Four lane conversion doesn't do it justice.  That's a freeway they're building around DeForest.  That stretch should be set for a generation or more with this investment.

[on_wisconsin]

Yep, it (US 51) is currently a huge cluster right now with the way the northern suburbs have been growing the last 20 years. One huge long accident black-spot will hopefully be erased for many decades to come when it opens.

[merrycilantro]

Quoting from a while back, I'd definitely like to see an I-x41 Spur on US45 between Oshkosh and Waupaca. US10 west of Appleton could *in theory* be signed as I-441, whether or not that would follow the guidelines (if any) of an even-numbered spur freeway is another question. I'd like to just create my own map, because a visual would be so much easier than words to describe, but I've yet to figure out how to do that.

In regards to the US 51 Freeway conversion, I wonder if in the long term they'd considered removing the long I-39/90/94 concurrency by rerouting I-39 onto US 51. That'd obviously take years...I am aware. but still not outside the realm of possibility...along with Routing a Chicagoland Freeway along US12 up to Madison/Dells.

As someone who frequently goes "up north", though, that US45-US10 Freeway is a GODSEND.