I-94 N-S Freeway/STH 11 Interchange SE Design Works LLC

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s reconstruction of Interstate 94 between Milwaukee and the Illinois border pushed the limits of highway construction in the state, wrapping up last summer, more than a decade ahead of schedule.

One component of the project, the State Highway 11 interchange in Racine County, illustrates how quickly engineers worked to bring the project from planning to construction.

An engineering team created for the project, called SE Design Works, completed the design for the interchange in just six months — a process that typically takes three to five years.

State officials moved to fast-track an expansion of Interstate 94 North-South after Foxconn Technology Group reached a deal with the state to build a manufacturing campus in the Racine County village of Mount Pleasant in 2017.

The company initially promised to build a massive manufacturing campus that would occupy 2,700 acres. The state’s receipt of a $160 million federal grant would also allow it to move the schedule for the project from completion in 2032 to 2021.

As part of the project, SE Design Group planned an overhaul of the State Highway 11 interchange that raised the height of bridges to make way for more truck traffic, in addition to working with stakeholders to keep the project on-track.

The interchange was part of an extensive amount of work that took place in Racine County. The project reconfigured much of the local road system in the county to deal with an expected influx in traffic from Foxconn.

The $250 million south and central segments of the project, in Racine and Kenosha counties, for instance, spanned 11 miles, added two lanes of interstate in each direction and reworked 18 bridges. In all, the entire $410 million project wrapped up in just 18 months — on time and under budget.