Interstate 41 construction will pause for the 2025 NFL Draft

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To accommodate up to hundreds of thousands of visitors coming to Lambeau Field for the 2025 NFL Draft, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will pause some parts of the Interstate 41 expansion in the Fox Valley next week.

Work restrictions for state highway projects in northeast Wisconsin will start at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22 through 6 a.m. Monday, April 28, including the I-41 project between Appleton and De Pere, so no traffic impacts can occur, WisDOT officials said. Some crews may still work on interchanges and overpass structures, but it won’t impact traffic, officials added.

The NFL Draft will take place from April 24-26 at Lambeau Field and the Titletown district. Ancillary events will take place around the stadium, as well.

Crews are widening 23 miles of highway from four to six lanes along I-41 between Appleton and De Pere, a multi-million-dollar project that has been in the planning stages for years. Work picked up due to the warm weather, but some construction could pause for six days to make sure fans can easily enter and exit Ashwaubenon come draft time, WTBA officials said.

The northbound I-41 on-ramp from Wisconsin Highway 15 was scheduled to close for reconstruction on Wednesday, WisDOT officials said in a project update. The northbound I-41 off-ramp close will start May 19. Full reconstruction of the WIS 15 interchange is expected to be complete by fall of 2025.

The connecting project for Interstate 41 is expected to be completed in 2030.

To ensure fans will have safe passage in and out of the event space, the village of Ashwaubenon announced road closures connected to the NFL Draft.

Between April 23 and April 27, the village tentatively planned closures at these locations:

• Holmgren Way, from Lombardi Avenue to Mike McCarthy Way;
• Mike McCarthy Way from South Oneida Street to Holmgren Way;
• Brett Farve Pass/Tony Canadeo Run from Holmgren Way to Badger State Brewing; and
• Armed Forces Drive from the Blue Lot Entrance to Holmgren Way.

In early April, the Green Bay Packers announced work started on the 250,000-square-foot Draft Theater at Lambeau Field’s east and northeast sides. Two months ago, the Packers teased around 800,000 square feet of construction on the stadium’s west side and most of the Titletown development for the “NFL Experience.”

Neenah-based Miron Construction is wrapping up projects and has projects ongoing around Lambeau Field, including the Resch Center Arena, expansion of the Packers training facility and the EUA Titletown office.

General admission for the draft is free, but attendees must download a pass on the NFL OnePass app to go into the NFL Draft Experience and the NFL Draft Theater, the Packers said.