WIS 50 Reconstruction and Modernization

Wisconsin Highway 50 serves as a gateway to the city of Kenosha and the village of Pleasant Prairie, connecting drivers to hospitals, schools and shopping districts.

More than 37,000 vehicles — including roughly 1,800 trucks — travel along the highway every day, and those numbers continue to rise each year. To accommodate the area’s growing population, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation partnered with HNTB Corp. and Zignego Group to modernize the corridor in Kenosha County.

The project widened and rebuilt 4.7 miles of a four-lane rural road, transforming it into a six-lane urban highway and adding multimodal infrastructure. A number of different parties were involved, as the project required coordination with two railroads, 22 different utility companies, two municipalities, more than 30 businesses and over 250 property owners.

The improvements to Highway 50 in Kenosha County comprised one of the largest urban roadway construction projects undertaken by WisDOT in the last 20 years.

“Communication was key,” said Brooke Rodden, marketing specialist at HNTB Corp. “Collaboration with WisDOT and the design team fostered a collaborative partnership through the design process and carried through construction between the design team, client and contractor.

“The lines of communication were clear, consistent and efficient, allowing for quick turnaround times to unforeseen circumstances and questions from the field. The project team provided detailed responses, supplemented with exhibits, for construction reviews. This allowed the contractor to provide feedback with short turnaround windows, reducing the risk of schedule delays and limiting impacts on the public.”