WisDOT’s year in review touts interchange completion, infrastructure dollars

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) was busy in 2023, including completing the final leg of the Zoo Interchange and securing hundreds of millions of federal dollars coming to state road projects.

Craig Thompson, the state transportation secretary, said in a statement, “Making an investment is more than about just dollars and cents. It’s about improving safety, mobility and quality of life in every corner of the state.”

Among the transportation agency’s year in review was a third year of state transportation funding increases, money for studying more passenger rail routes and more than 350 projects funded for safety and road improvements. Several key items on WisDOT’s end of year list were tied to the influx of federal funding for infrastructure projects.

In November, WisDOT announced that contractors had finished the North Leg of the Zoo Interchange, and the project wrapped up $200 million under budget. The reconstruction called for 1.7 miles of Interstate 41 to expand to eight lanes inside Wauwatosa.

Here are the projects WisDOT highlighted this year.

• Completed the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee County, providing a critical hub for commerce and tourism that benefits the entire state;
• Improved the WIS 15 commuter route between New London and the Fox Cities;
• Completed US 14/South Avenue reconstruction to improve safety and connectivity in La Crosse; and
• Widened WIS 21 in north central Wisconsin, enhancing safety for travelers.

This was the third year in a row for transportation funding growth after the governor signed off on his latest budget, which went to more than 350 projects, according to transportation officials. Some projects, like the Wisconsin Highway 15 improvements in Outagamie County and the North Leg of the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee County, were funded in part by the federal government.

This was also the year where the Minnesota Department of Transportation and WisDOT requested more than a billion dollars to replace the Blatnik Bridge between Superior and Duluth, which is slated for groundbreaking in 2025.

Meanwhile, the federal government sent Wisconsin $2.5 million to study expanding passenger rail routes in the Fox Valley, Milwaukee, Madison and Eau Claire. This coincided with WisDOT’s plan to expand the Amtrak Hiawatha service to reach Green Bay announced earlier.

According to the transportation department, the feds gave Wisconsin nearly $606 million via Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The legislation, signed more than two years ago, has been credited with boosting around 500 projects in the state, targeting road and bridge projects, as well as grants for work zone safety programs. Some of that money has also gone to plans for electric vehicle infrastructure and building charging stations across the state.

Since 2021, the state installed multi-language signs on tribal boundaries. This year, crews installed dual-language signs on state highways to designate tribal lands for the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin and Forest County Potawatomi. The signs are both in native and English languages.

Transportation officials said they improved 7,400 miles of roads and more than 1,700 bridges since 2019.

Watch WisDOT’s year in review video here.

Here’s the video about the North Leg of the Zoo Interchange completion.