Milwaukee area freeways

[OCGuy81]

Milwaukee area is getting its first Diverging Diamond Interchange.  It'll become one of five in the state when it opens on Saturday.

FOX POINT, Wis. — The diverging diamond interchange at the intersection of I-43 and Brown Deer Road is expected to open this Saturday.

There are four other diverging diamond interchanges open in the state: Two in Janesville, one in Appleton and one in Beloit.

The interchange off Brown Deer Road marks the first in southeastern Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) said the diverging diamond interchange is designed to "intuitively guide motorists through the pathways."

The interchange has been under construction for over a year, resulting in countless closures. However, WisDOT said it is excited to open the interchange Saturday, barring the weather.

"It's a great way to efficiently move traffic through," Steve Hoff said. "So certainly, better access to businesses and connecting both sides from River Hills over to Bayside."

Hoff, a WisDOT project manager, said this intersection design has proven to improve safety by eliminating the need to turn into oncoming traffic. It also improves the flow of cars by making it easier for drivers to turn left onto I-43.

This type of interchange reduces the number of ways vehicles can crash by almost half, according to WisDOT data.

Hoff said the diverging diamond interchange can look intimidating, since it briefly shifts traffic on Brown Deer Road to the opposite side of the roadway, but the lights and signs should guide drivers with ease.

"With this one, drivers will approach the intersection and briefly drive on the other side of the roadway," Hoff said. "What that does is allows for a free-flow left turn onto the freeway, which is a quicker move than what would typically happen in a normal intersection — you have a left turn arrow."

WisDOT said improved safety is always its the goal, especially in high-traffic areas — like the area off Brown Deer Road.

"By having that free-flow, you no longer have traffic coming towards you, so it will be a safer movement that way," Hoff said.

https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2024/11/19/diverging-diamond-intersection-expected-to-open-this-weekend#:~:text=one%20in%20Beloit.-,The%20interchange%20off%20Brown%20Deer%20Road%20marks%20the%20first%20in,guide%20motorists%20through%20the%20pathways.%E2%80%9D

[The Ghostbuster]

Where else in the Milwaukee area could diverging-diamond interchanges go? A few possibilities I can think of is: Interstate 41 at STH 175/W. Appleton Ave.; Interstate 41/43/894 at W. National Ave. (despite the fact that both Appleton and National travel through the interchanges diagonally); and Interstate 94 at S. Moorland Rd.

[OCGuy81]

Those are all solid choices for this type of interchange.

I'd also throw in I-41/94 at Ryan Road or even Rawson.

[Icewolf]

Where else in the Milwaukee area could diverging-diamond interchanges go? A few possibilities I can think of is: Interstate 41 at STH 175/W. Appleton Ave.; Interstate 41/43/894 at W. National Ave. (despite the fact that both Appleton and National travel through the interchanges diagonally); and Interstate 94 at S. Moorland Rd.

IIRC, plans for the Stadium Interchange (I-94/WI 175) are for the core interchange to be a DDI

[OCGuy81]

Where else in the Milwaukee area could diverging-diamond interchanges go? A few possibilities I can think of is: Interstate 41 at STH 175/W. Appleton Ave.; Interstate 41/43/894 at W. National Ave. (despite the fact that both Appleton and National travel through the interchanges diagonally); and Interstate 94 at S. Moorland Rd.

IIRC, plans for the Stadium Interchange (I-94/WI 175) are for the core interchange to be a DDI

I believe you're right.  It's part of the eventual I-94 expansion out to the Zoo Interchange.

[mgk920]

Right, current plans are for the Stadium Interchange to be re-engineered as a DDI.

WisDOT also has FIRM plans for three of the I-41 street interchanges here in the Appleton area to be reconfigured into DDIs as part of the under construction I-41 Appleton to De Pere six laning project - Northland Ave (WI 15/Outagamie County 'OO'/old US 41), Richmond Street (WI 47) and Ballard Rd (Outagamie County 'E').

Mike

[mgk920]

Redoing I-43/Brown Deer Rd (WI 100) as a DDI was a 'no brainer' in my book.  That previous cloverleaf was as '1950s-obsolete' as they come.

Mike

[The Ghostbuster]

The old Brown Deer Rd. interchange looked very weird. Wouldn't a standard diamond interchange have sufficed at this location?

[hobsini2]

The old Brown Deer Rd. interchange looked very weird. Wouldn't a standard diamond interchange have sufficed at this location?

You got to remember the plan for Hwy 100 was (and it is in someways) to be a bypass before the 894 existed. A diamond with the projected traffic at the time was not going to be enough.

[mgk920]

The old Brown Deer Rd. interchange looked very weird. Wouldn't a standard diamond interchange have sufficed at this location?

You got to remember the plan for Hwy 100 was (and it is in someways) to be a bypass before the 894 existed. A diamond with the projected traffic at the time was not going to be enough.

Also, when that previous cloverleaf interchange was engineered, I-43 was an nobody's radar screen.  It was Port Washington Rd (US 141), a major street/surface highway.

Mike

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://www.94eastwest.wisconsindot.gov/

Get ready for 7 YEARS of construction on I-94 between the Zoo and the Marquette Interchanges!

[mgk920]

https://www.94eastwest.wisconsindot.gov/

Get ready for 7 YEARS of construction on I-94 between the Zoo and the Marquette Interchanges!

 

Mike

[The Ghostbuster]

I think reconstruction of the 70th St.-to-16th St. segment of Interstate 94 should have started sooner, such as after the Zoo Interchange Project was finished. Nevertheless, I like that the reconstructed freeway will be four lanes in each direction, although the tight squeeze within the cemetery (11-foot lanes and two-foot shoulders, due to having only 108 feet of available right-of-way) might be a problem. Then again, that "tight squeeze" was the only way the project could get done in that location without moving graves by expanding the existing right-of-way. I am happy that there will no longer be left-hand ramps at N. Gen. Mitchell Blvd. interchange. I also agree that the Stadium Interchange should be downgraded to a diverging-diamond, especially since in the future, the Stadium North Freeway will no longer be completely freeway, but will be downgraded as well: https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/projects/by-region/se/175study/default.aspx.

[mgk920]

I think reconstruction of the 70th St.-to-16th St. segment of Interstate 94 should have started sooner, such as after the Zoo Interchange Project was finished. Nevertheless, I like that the reconstructed freeway will be four lanes in each direction, although the tight squeeze within the cemetery (11-foot lanes and two-foot shoulders, due to having only 108 feet of available right-of-way) might be a problem. Then again, that "tight squeeze" was the only way the project could get done in that location without moving graves by expanding the existing right-of-way. I am happy that there will no longer be left-hand ramps at N. Gen. Mitchell Blvd. interchange. I also agree that the Stadium Interchange should be downgraded to a diverging-diamond, especially since in the future, the Stadium North Freeway will no longer be completely freeway, but will be downgraded as well: https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/projects/by-region/se/175study/default.aspx.

I think reconstruction of the 70th St.-to-16th St. segment of Interstate 94 should have started sooner, such as after the Zoo Interchange Project was finished. Nevertheless, I like that the reconstructed freeway will be four lanes in each direction, although the tight squeeze within the cemetery (11-foot lanes and two-foot shoulders, due to having only 108 feet of available right-of-way) might be a problem. Then again, that "tight squeeze" was the only way the project could get done in that location without moving graves by expanding the existing right-of-way. I am happy that there will no longer be left-hand ramps at N. Gen. Mitchell Blvd. interchange. I also agree that the Stadium Interchange should be downgraded to a diverging-diamond, especially since in the future, the Stadium North Freeway will no longer be completely freeway, but will be downgraded as well: https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/projects/by-region/se/175study/default.aspx.

As was mentioned in much earlier posts in here on this matter, there are legally 'sealed' graves along the I-94 ROW in that cemetery, the final resting sites of victims of an unidentified pandemic during the very late 19th century that cannot be moved.  This was done for public health reasons. A few decades ago WisDOT engineers were actively discussing cantilevering the two sides of the freeway through there to maintain full standards with eight lanes.

Mike

[SEWIGuy]

As was mentioned in much earlier posts in here on this matter, there are legally 'sealed' graves along the I-94 ROW in that cemetery, the final resting sites of victims of an unidentified pandemic during the very late 19th century that cannot be moved.  This was done for public health reasons. A few decades ago WisDOT engineers were actively discussing cantilevering the two sides of the freeway through there to maintain full standards with eight lanes.

Mike

May I ask where you got this information regarding the "sealed graves?" You have said this before but I have never seen it mentioned elsewhere.

[FightingIrish]

As was mentioned in much earlier posts in here on this matter, there are legally 'sealed' graves along the I-94 ROW in that cemetery, the final resting sites of victims of an unidentified pandemic during the very late 19th century that cannot be moved.  This was done for public health reasons. A few decades ago WisDOT engineers were actively discussing cantilevering the two sides of the freeway through there to maintain full standards with eight lanes.

Mike

May I ask where you got this information regarding the "sealed graves?" You have said this before but I have never seen it mentioned elsewhere.

I remember reading about it years ago, but, minus a deep Google search, I do not recall where I saw it. For readers not familiar with the area, in that stretch, just west of the stadium, there are two cemeteries closely bordering I-94. One, on the south side, is Wood National Cemetery, which is part of the VA complex, and owned by the federal government. On the north side is a Jewish cemetery (Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel Cemetery) that has been there for over a hundred years. Both cemeteries are still active and well-maintained. And it is highly unlikely either cemetery will allow the relocation of any graves.

The 'sealed grave' dilemma, as I understand it, involves the remains of some people that succumbed to long-extinct pandemics. These pandemics disappeared so long ago that there aren't even any treatments, vaccines or even general knowledge available. Disturbing those graves or wall crypts (which Wood has alongside the freeway) could possibly release some long-contained diseases back into the general population. Needless to say, that is a big concern, and among the major sticking points in the much-needed expansion I-94. The others are redoing the Stadium Interchange and rebuilding several overpasses in the area of N. 27th St.

[mgk920]

Also, any similar victims of more recent exotic contagious diseases or illnesses are likely cremated, eliminating that problem.

BTW, I learned about the 'sealed gave' issue during conversations that I had with WisDOT engineers a few decades ago.

Mike

[The Ghostbuster]

I remember when SEWRPC did their Regional Freeway Study in the early 2000's, they recommended elevating the westbound lanes to overlap the eastbound lanes by 15 to 25 feet. They recommended this as a way to avoid grave displacement and to provide full shoulders for the corridor. Of course, those that responded to the study weren't happy with this recommendation, which is probably why the DOT recommended either double-decking the freeway through the cemetery, or leave it as is and narrow the lanes and shoulders through the narrowest point.