FOX CITIES, Wis. (WFRV) – There’s no shortage of orange traffic barrels, detour signs, and closures for motorists to navigate around when they drive on I-41 in the Fox Cities.
Construction continues on the I-41 expansion project and there are several bridges, interchanges, and on/off ramps along the highway that have closed. These include County Road J in Kaukauna and Ballard Road and Northland Avenue in Appleton.
For a full list of closures and more information about the project, please click here.
“This section of highway had extremely high crashes, almost daily, before construction started,” said project development manager Kurt Peters. “That’s why we’re reconstructing this and adding capacity, because it’s going to make it safer in the end.”
“Construction just by its nature is messy and inconvenient; it causes issues,” said Bryan Learst, who is another project manager for the I-41 expansion project. “But once this project is done, we’ll have additional capacity. It’ll be safer for vehicles to travel.”
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Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials said one impact they’re seeing from the construction is backups on certain off-ramps. In particular, the one on I-441 at the Northland Avenue exit, where officials say traffic backed up more than a mile at one point. Officials said they’ve seen accidents as a result of these backups as well.
Many of the bridges over I-41 in the area are closed as a result of the expansion project. Officials think excess motorists are trying to access French Road (which goes over I-41) through I-441 at the Northland Avenue exit, causing the backups.
“Some of them have been stretching all the way back to College Avenue or County Trunk CE that is roughly about a mile from the off ramp,” said WISDOT engineer Joshua Falk.
Project officials remind motorists that the bridges over I-41 over Meade Street and Freedom Road, among several others, remain open. They encourage people to use these roads as well to ease traffic on French Road and at the Northland Avenue exit off of I-441.
“Check the 511 app to find those best routes,” said Wisconsin State Patrol Lieutenant Luke Newman. “They change daily, construction zones change frequently, what’s closed, what’s open. Checking those will get you to your destination more safely and efficiently.”
Businesses near the construction zones said they’re also feeling impacts.
“Because we work on a pretty tight schedule,” said Stacy Prodell, who is the office manager for North Appleton Dentistry. “If people show up 10 or 15 minutes late, that can throw our whole day off.”
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This dentist’s office is very close to the construction on Ballard Road that’s part of the I-41 expansion project. Prodell said they sent out push notifications to patients’ phones and emails to let them know about the construction and its impacts on their route to the dentist’s office.
“We haven’t had as many people as late as we thought they would be, so our efforts were definitely helpful,” said Prodell.
Officials ask for drivers to remain patient with them as they continue this project. They want drivers to be extra vigilant in construction zones and to slow down.
