First contract for Burlington Bypass project scheduled to begin

March 8, 2006

Work is scheduled to begin the week of March 6 on a $19.3 million contract for initial grading work on the Burlington Bypass project in Racine County. Governor Jim Doyle recently approved the contract.

The project will take place on 5.7 miles of the bypass (the east project) on new alignment from WIS 83 on the south side of Burlington to WIS 36/83 on the northeast side.

This is the first of many contracts to construct the new bypass. Work under this contract will perform major grading operations for the new bypass, from the Fox River on the southeast side of the city to the Fox River on the northeast side of the city. In addition to the mainline grading, this first contract will affect WIS 142, WIS 11 and County A.

“Construction of an 11-mile Burlington bypass project will provide a transportation system in the Burlington community that will accommodate existing and forecasted high traffic volumes," said Andy Smieja, project manager with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. An additional 11 miles of side road reconstruction will be required for the proposed interchanges, overpasses and at-grade intersections.

The bypass will:

• Improve safety for the traveling public.
• Provide the best level of service to those traveling this major route.
• Relieve delays at at-grade intersections created by increasing train traffic.
• Provide an efficient travel pattern into and out of the city of Burlington to help reduce truck traffic in the downtown area.

Traffic impacts during first stage of construction:

• WIS 142, County A and WIS 11 on the east side of Burlington will be closed to through traffic as part of this first contract. Access for local residents will be maintained.
• WIS 142 and County A will likely be closed from April to November 2006 while WIS 11 will likely be closed from April to August of 2007.
• Traffic on County A during 2006 will be detoured down County W to WIS 11 to County J back to County A.
• Traffic on WIS 142 during 2006 will be detoured down WIS 11 to WIS 175 back to WIS 142.
• Traffic on WIS 11 during 2007 will be detoured down WIS 75 to WIS 142 back to WIS 11.

Construction on the western section of the bypass will take place in spring 2008 to fall 2010 and will construct approximately 5.2 miles of the bypass on new alignment from County DD on the west side of Burlington to WIS 83 on the south side, noted Smieja.

The contractor, H. James and Sons, is scheduled to complete work on this first contract by August 2007, weather permitting. The entire eastern half of the bypass is currently scheduled for completion by fall 2008, at which point it would be opened to traffic.

State funds will pay 100 percent of the project.

More information on the Burlington Bypass project...

For more information, contact:
Emlynn Grisar, Communications Manager
(262) 521-5373

Andy Smieja, Project Manager
(262) 548-8784