KAUKAUNA (NBC 26) — The bridge over I-41 on County Highway J in Kaukauna is scheduled to close at 6 a.m. Tuesday, per the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
- This is the fourth I-41 overpass in the Fox Cities to be closed this summer
- Critical drivers and Fox Cities residents are frustrated that so many bridges are closing simultaneously, causing more congestion
- For more information on the CTH-J bridge and interchange work, click here
- For more information on the overall I-41 Project, click here
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, with additional details added for web)
This County J bridge in Kaukauna is set to close Tuesday morning, bringing us to a total of four bridges over I-41 in the Fox Cities closed at the same time. NBC 26 is talking to some drivers here at this truck stop, with varying levels of frustration about the I-41 construction, and with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WISDOT), about why all these closures are happening at once.
Watch Karl Winter's full story here:
"Traffic's congested in spots where it's not normally congested," Matt Down said.
"French Road is pretty bad right now," Daniel Schmidt said. "The on-ramp near French Road, where it intersects with Northland Ave, is pretty bad too."
"It'll impact our business, for sure," Down adds. "Customers will have to go down one more exit."
The bridge closure at County Highway J adds to three other overpasses closed over the freeway now, as WISDOT needs to tear down and rebuild some bridges to make space for the two additional lanes that are coming below.
The closures, which will each last until at least the end of the summer, has some drivers saying its too much.
"There has to be a better way, you know, to go about it sequentially, " said Schmidt, who lives in Little Chute and commutes to Green Bay. "To kind of, like, do it in steps, rather than just kind of everything at the same time."
Down also lives in Little Chute but works on the other side of the bridge in Kaukauna — and doesn't like it either, but says it'll be worth the hassle when the project is finished.
"The two lanes [on I-41] is always congested," he said. "There's always accidents. So what they're doing out there, it's, yeah, it sucks, but I mean, in the long run, it'll be better for everybody."
WISDOT says it's focused on not closing consecutive interchanges or bridges, so detours are not too painful.
"How do you balance trying to get these projects done in a timely manner while also mitigating inconveniences to drivers?" NBC 26 asked.
"Sometimes it's better to rip the BandAid off and try to close bigger areas and just get it done quicker," said Kyle Treml, WISDOT's I-41 Project Manager. "Other times, we have to be a little bit more sensitive, and, you know, do some widening and move traffic around to be able to build roads and halves and whatnot. There's a point where, you know, we have to look at re-timing signals. We have to look at, yeah, encouraging folks to use other routes."
"What do you say to drivers or residents who are frustrated that multiple projects are happening at the same time?" we asked.
"You know, I would, I would reinforce that, you know, it definitely is going to appear that there's a lot more work happening this year," Treml said. "And that's true. We do have a lot more work happening. And hopefully, the work that's going on, they can see progress. They can see see the work happening. They can see things happening overnight to hopefully reduce the impact to the traveling public during the day. So we're trying trying as much as possible to limit those impacts, but really we still suggest that people look at using alternate routes if they're their normal way to and from work is more congested."
WISDOT promised more information for drivers coming out Tuesday afternoon, so stick with us here on NBC 26.
