US 41 and 45 (Wisconsin) upgrade update

[mgk920]

Freeway conversion work on the last part of US 45 between US 41 and US 10 northwest of Oshkosh/west of Appleton, WI to begin, estimated completion - late 2012.  Work involves extending full frontage roads along both sides of the highway and building three new crossroad overcrossing bridges.

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20110627/APC0101/106270431

See:
http://maps.google.com/?ll=44.147232,-88.650055&spn=0.282812,0.703125&z=11
The segment in question is between Winchester (County 'II' interchange) and County 'G'.  The remainder of US 45 between US 10 and US 41 is already a fully interstate-compatible freeway.



Mike

[qguy]

Is the 45/41 interchange being upgraded to a freeflowing freeway-to-freeway connection?

[mgk920]

Is the 45/41 interchange being upgraded to a freeflowing freeway-to-freeway connection?

Partially.  As part of the under-construction US 41 upgrades (I'm living in the midst of construction-geek HEAVEN right now!   ), high-speed free-flow ramps are being built for the NB US 41 to NB US 45 and SB US 45 to SB US 41 moves (the major moves) at this interchange.  The SB US 41 to NB US 45 and SB US 45 to NB US 41 moves will use ramp intersection turns, all of which will be roundabouts.

Mike

[mgk920]

WisDOT shifted southbound mainline US 41 traffic to the new southbound side of the freeway and opened the southbound US 45 to US 41 'freeflow' ramp at the Algoma Interchange in Oshkosh, WI today (Wednesday, 2011-09-07).  Northbound US 41 to northbound US 45 is still closed and will not likely be done until next fall.

(I'll have to check this out later today!)



:jumping:

Southbound US 45 is back on its normal routing between US 41 and US 10 (Winchester Interchange), ONLY, access to northbound US 45 from northbound US 41 is still detoured using WI 76 and US 10 and all other connections to, from and across US 41 (including the marked US 45 through routing to/from Oshkosh city streets) are still down at the Algoma Interchange.

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20110906/APC0101/109060405

On US 45 between WI 116 and US 10 (Winchester Interchange), bridge construction is proceeding at a rapid pace at Grandview Rd and at Breezewood Rd-Woodland Rd and they should be completed by late October, if not sooner.  The third overcrossing bridge (Oak Ridge Rd-Lakeview Rd, located between the other two) will be done next year and is being maintained as a crossroad this year for local access across US 45.  Frontage road grading work on both sides of US 45 is also proceeding quickly, including some road cutting near the project's south end, but they will not all be completed until next year.  A few sections will likely be done this fall, though.

Mike

[triplemultiplex]

Drove through the completed US 45 SB ramp at Oshkosh today and am glad to see that step done.  I snapped some pics on my way through, but of course there was a big frickin' SUV in front of me obscuring the view so that was worthless.  Long way to go still on the new Butte des Mortes causeway bridges, but everything looks on pace south of WI 21 to be completed later this year.  Crews were prepping a slip-form paver for another chunk of roadway.

On the US 45 frontage road/overpasses, it struck me as overkill to take down that one hill even more for the east frontage road until I observed that they were using the limestone from that hill to build the roadbed for the frontage roads.  Then it made perfect sense.  I still think they should've been doing this back when they added the NB carriageway to that segment, but what do I know?

[mgk920]

Drove through the completed US 45 SB ramp at Oshkosh today and am glad to see that step done.  I snapped some pics on my way through, but of course there was a big frickin' SUV in front of me obscuring the view so that was worthless.  Long way to go still on the new Butte des Mortes causeway bridges, but everything looks on pace south of WI 21 to be completed later this year.  Crews were prepping a slip-form paver for another chunk of roadway.

On the US 45 frontage road/overpasses, it struck me as overkill to take down that one hill even more for the east frontage road until I observed that they were using the limestone from that hill to build the roadbed for the frontage roads.  Then it made perfect sense.  I still think they should've been doing this back when they added the NB carriageway to that segment, but what do I know?

The delays there were based on availability of funding.

I also note that everything is in place to pour the deck on the northernmost of those crossroad bridges just south of Winchester later today (Tuesday, 2011-09-20).

Mike