Proposed six-lane I-43 project picks up steam

Plans to widen I-43 in Ozaukee County to six lanes are moving forward, with construction to potentially start in 2022, Ozaukee County officials were informed this week.

Preliminary engineering has been completed on the plan and an informational meeting will be held in January to provide updates to local officials on design, environmental overview and construction schedule, according to a letter from the state Department of Transportation presented to the County Board of Supervisors this week.

The project would widen I-43 from Silver Spring Drive in Milwaukee County to Highway 60 in the Town of Grafton to six lanes, reconstruct many of the interchanges, replace several bridges and add new on and off ramps at Highland Road in Mequon.

Under former Gov. Scott Walker, the project had been put on the back burner while the Marquette and Zoo Interchanges were completed.

But earlier this year, the Republic Legislature’s biennial budget earmarked $483.7 million to upgrade the state’s highway system, using a combination of title- and registration-fee increases, an infusion of general tax dollars and new borrowing to pay for it.

Funding still needs to be set for the specific I-43 project, DOT documents state.

That stretch of I-43 was built in the 1950s and 1960s and parts of it have been resurfaced several times, most recently in 2014.

But the original concrete pavement and underlying gravel have remained in place and have deteriorated over time from weather and use, a DOT study states.

“The North-South Freeway has exceeded its design life and it is no longer economical to maintain,” the study says.

Likewise, while most of the bridges earn a “good” rating, “over the next 10 years, the condition of several of these bridges will likely further deteriorate, even with routine maintenance,” a DOT analysis states. “There will come a point when it becomes more cost effective to simply replace the bridges.” 

Replacing the bridges also affords the opportunity to reconstruct interchanges so on and off ramps meet current standards for width, distance and slope, the study says.

The study says there are insufficient bridge clearances at Falls Road and Donges Bay Road and substandard ramp and bridge designs at Highway 60, Highway C and Mequon Road.

Increasing congestion also is a concern. I-43 carries 49,000 vehicles per day south of Highway 60 and 85,460 vehicles per day north of Silver Spring Drive, creating “significant congestion.”

Projections show traffic growing to 65,000 vehicles per day south of Highway 60 and 112,500 vehicles per day north of Silver Spring Drive by 2040. 

According to the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, Ozaukee County is expected to grow at twice the rate of Milwaukee County between 2020 and 2035, with population growing 22.8% and the number of households growing 29.4%.

The distance people will commute to work is expected to grow 42.7%

County Public Works Committee Chairman Don Korinek said his committee has had no input or direct communication with the DOT on the project.

“None whatsoever,” he said. 

“There were a lot of people who wanted it (when first proposed), citing safety. But do we need it?” Korinek said. “We’re doing alright now.”

For county Highway Commissioner Jon Edgren, however, “it can’t come soon enough. That road is on life support. It will be difficult to keep that road up” for the next two years before construction might start.

Edgren said the project will likely take three years to complete, starting at Highway 60 and moving south.

The County Board and City of Mequon requested that the DOT include the Highland Road interchange in the plan.

As a result, the county and Mequon each will be responsible for 10% of the interchange’s cost, which is unknown at this point, Edgren said.

County Board Chairman Lee Schlenvogt said the County Board budgeted spending about $1 million for the Highland Road interchange, using money from county land sales to fund it.

“None of the money will come from the tax levy,” he said.

The fund currently has about $458,000 and should exceed $1 million if the purchase of county land at Highways 33 and LL by Casey’s General Store for $500,000 is ever consummated, he said.

“We have to have roads to move traffic,” Schlenvogt said. “And that area is terrible. You have to wear a mouth guard when you’re driving through there.”