CTH KR, CTH H to Old Green Bay Road, Racine & Kenosha Counties

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So many different parties collaborated on the CTH KR project, but they all had one goal in mind: to improve this critical east-west arterial road in Racine and Kenosha counties.

This segment of roadway connects Interstate 94 with Wisconsin highways 31 and 32. The design goals addressed significant deficiencies such as substandard vertical curves, high crash rates, lack of a bike or pedestrian space, narrow shoulders, poor drainage and frequent flooding.

Kapur was the general contractor on the project. The design schedule was a significant challenge, with only two years available to proceed from planning and alternative analysis to final design and plans, specifications and estimate.

“CTH KR posed challenges, such as scheduling and existing deficiencies,” said Jeffrey Sobczak, corporate initiatives manager for Kapur. “The critical factor in overcoming these obstacles was cooperation among the entities who had an investment in the project. This includes the design team, residents, special interest groups and local governments.”

A number of safety programs were utilized during the project, including a work zone and staging concept to ensure construction staff and motorists were protected during construction. This four-stage plan saw CTH KR closed to through-traffic for much of construction and was carefully developed to ensure that available working days were planned, allowing construction milestones to be successfully reached.

Travel lanes in each direction were kept open for local access during construction. Other local abutting projects also had the potential to impact CTH KR, requiring careful coordination with their limits and staging.