We are in the final stretch of the I-41 Project design phase, and road construction will begin in early 2024. The project will reconstruct and expand 23 miles of I-41 from four lanes to six lanes between WIS 96 (Wisconsin Avenue) in Appleton and County F (Scheuring Road) in De Pere.
The project will reconstruct one system interchange between the Interstate and WIS 441, and 10 service interchanges including ramp work at the I-41 interchanges with WIS 96 and WIS 441/OO. WisDOT will also build a new service interchange at I-41 and Southbridge Road.
The project will also replace the Wrightstown Safety and Weight Enforcement Facility with a new building that will also serve as headquarters for the Northeast Region of the Wisconsin State Patrol.
Before the I-41 Project was approved for construction, WisDOT developed and studied multiple alternatives to reduce congestion, and update the roadway and bridges to meet current design standards.
WisDOT factored feedback from the public, tribes, businesses, agencies and local governments during the evaluation, which assessed each alternative’s ability to address the project’s purpose and need, and its potential environmental impacts, required right of way, and estimated cost.
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Diverging Diamond Interchange
This interchange will be reconstructed as a diverging diamond interchange to better accommodate higher volumes of traffic more safely. The merge distance for the I-41 northbound entrance ramp will also be increased.
55 mph Flyover Ramp
The 55 mph flyover ramp alternative requires less land, has fewer impacts and costs less than a 60 mph flyover alternative while offering similar operational and safety benefits.
Diamond Interchange with Roundabouts
This interchange will be reconstructed to diamond interchange with roundabouts at the County S/Mid Valley Drive and County S/French Road intersections.
Diamond Interchange with Roundabouts
WisDOT will construct a new diamond interchange with multi-lane roundabouts.
A shared use path will also be added on the north side of Southbridge Road.
Please visit the link
below to learn more: Brown County South Bridge Project
Auxiliary Lanes
An auxiliary lane is an extra lane added between interchange on- and off-ramps. It is used to ease speed changes, balance the traffic load, and provide an efficient way to weave into and out of traffic while lessening congestion in the through lanes.
Locations (5):
From WIS 96 to WIS 15
From WIS 47 to County E
WIS 441 from I-41 to County OO
From WIS 55 to County J
From Southbridge Road Interchange to County F
Auxiliary lanes will be built between these closely spaced interchanges in addition to a third travel lane that will be built as part of the I-41 Mainline improvements.
Collector-Distributor Road
Location (1):
From County E to WIS 441
A collector-distributor or C-D road will improve safety, requires less land and is less expensive than the alternatively considered braided ramp option, while providing a safe connection with acceptable traffic operations.
The 23-mile I-41 Project segment has four travel lanes – two lanes in each direction. The segment is congested and has a higher rate of crashes than similarly configured freeways in Wisconsin. By federal standards, the project area has multiple roadway design deficiencies, and much of its pavement and several bridges are nearing the end of their useful lives and must be replaced.
The National Environmental Policy Act requires an environmental assessment to document study data that determines whether a federal action such as a transportation project could cause significant environmental effects. The assessment typically includes a discussion of the purpose and need for a proposed action; alternatives and the potential environmental impacts of the proposed action and alternatives; and an accounting of the agencies and stakeholders (including affected members of the public) an agency consults about the proposed project and alternatives.
A Finding of No Significant Impact is a federally approved document that presents the reasons why an agency such as WisDOT has concluded that an action such as a transportation project will not produce significant environmental impacts.
System interchange is used to identify interchanges that connect two or more freeways. System interchange connections should be high speed and free flowing to provide all directional movements.
Service interchange applies to interchanges that connect a freeway with local surface streets or arterials. Service interchange ramps may be a low-speed, free-flowing, or may require a stop at the connection to the local or arterial street.
An auxiliary lane is an extra lane added between interchange on and off ramps. It is used for speed changes and the maneuvering of entering and exiting traffic. The lanes are an efficient way to weave into and out of traffic while lessening congestion in the through lanes. Auxiliary lanes balance the traffic load and maintain a more uniform level of service on the highway.
A collector-distributor road, or C-D road, is a limited-access road that carries traffic from local roads and arterial roads to freeways or highways. The purpose of a C-D road is to eliminate weaving and reduce the number of exit and entrance points on the freeway.
Based on study data, the current 70-mph speed limit is appropriate for I-41.
Studies show that highways operate the most safely when most vehicles are moving at roughly the same speed. Lowering I-41’s speed limit to 55 mph would increase variations among vehicle speeds and the actions that cause safety issues such as changing lanes to avoid slower vehicles and dangerous merging. State and national safety studies found that wide gaps among vehicle speeds are very likely to decrease the overall safety of the roadway.
A speed study completed for I-41 found the prevailing speed (85th percentile) ranged from 76.1 to 77.8 mph and the average speed ranged from 69.1 to 71.4 mph. I-41 is an Interstate designed for a 70 mph speed limit, and most motorists drive at speeds consistent with a roadway’s geometrics and environment.
Brown and Outagamie counties’ Highway Traffic Safety committee, which include representatives with the Wisconsin State Patrol, local law enforcement, local and county officials, health departments, and safety and driver education groups, meet on a quarterly basis with WisDOT to review all severe and fatal crashes and evaluate best practices for crash mitigation and incident response.
WisDOT also works with emergency responders to develop coordinated protocols and preplanned emergency alternate routes to maximize response efficiencies during incidents.
The WisDOT Safety Patrol sponsored by Geico is also active between WIS 96 and County F (Scheuring Road) to help drivers in the event of a breakdown or minor crash. The safety patrol offers free, limited roadside assistance to drivers in need.
The transportation improvement process from inception of environmental study to breaking ground for a construction project of this size and scope is likely to track quite similarly with other projects of its size/scale. WisDOT continuously pursues efficiencies and best practices. The public may find this process to construction faster than other typical projects of its size and scope because of the unique way that it was legislatively approved and has study and construction funded from the start.
Like the large-scale improvement projects in Winnebago and Brown counties, traffic staging plans will be developed and refined throughout the preliminary and final design of project sections. The department will follow industry accepted standards and guidelines to implement the most effective traffic management strategy.
The Brown County reconstruction had distinct project limits evaluated for addressing that project’s purpose and need. Transportation Project Commission authorization/enumeration by way of funding of that construction work was predicated on the environmental study they authorized/enumerated.
Yes. The selected alternative includes expanding the four-lane highway to six lanes. The additional lane will be construction in the existing median; however, interchange reconstruction or the construction of new noise barriers will require real estate. The project’s Finding of No Significant Impact describes the potential impacts the project may produce. WisDOT will determine the exact location and amount of real estate required as the design progresses.
Yes, as part of the environmental study, WisDOT conducted a noise analysis. Six new noise barriers and the existing noise wall in the project area were determined to be feasible and reasonable.
The final location of noise walls will not be decided until later in the project design process. There is an interactive process with which we will work with affected owners, tenants and local entities on any necessary noise infrastructure in terms of determinations, consensus/voting, aesthetics, and maintenance. Areas with existing noise walls will have impacts of the reconstruction project evaluated as well.
WisDOT will engage and collaborate with municipal and county representatives so that facilities designed and constructed as part of the I-41 Project – such as lane configurations and pedestrian and bicycle accommodations – complement local and regional transportation planning efforts.
For additional information on Brown County's South Bridge Project, please visit:
https://www.browncountywi.gov/departments/highway/general-information/south-bridge-connector/
Project contact:
Cole Runge
Brown County Planning Director/MPO Director
PO Box 23600
Green Bay, WI 54305-3600
(920) 448-6480
South.bridge.connector@browncountywi.gov
WisDOT is replacing the Wrightstown Safety and Weight Enforcement Facility (SWEF), which is about ¾ miles south of County U in Outagamie County, to protect the reconstructed I-41 from overweight vehicle use that could damage the project’s new structures and pavement. The existing facility also requires updated technology and equipment to weigh and inspect commercial truck traffic.
Project construction will impact access to and operations at the current Wrightstown SWEF.
The Wisconsin State Patrol, whose current headquarters in Fond du Lac requires significant upgrades, will move its Northeast Region Headquarters to the new Wrightstown SWEF, which is located more centrally to the region. Co-locating in the new facility will cost less than upgrading the current patrol headquarters.
WisDOT will replace the following six of the eight local and county road overpasses over I-41:
The existing overpass bridges at Lynndale Drive (County A) and Meade Street will remain in place.
The reconstructed overpasses will have the same number of lanes but be wider than the existing ones to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians and meet minimum design standards.
The project will reconstruct the following three interchanges with I-41 as diverging diamond interchanges (DDIs):
The innovative DDI configuration, sometimes called a “double crossover diamond,” accommodates more traffic than conventional interchange designs and allows drivers to make free-flow right and left turns onto freeway ramps.
Given the large volume of traffic making left turns to access I-41 from the three locations listed above, the DDI alternative best addresses safety concerns and traffic operations.
DDIs are comparable in cost to other diamond interchange alternatives and reduce the number of ways vehicles can collide by almost half (14%) compared with conventional diamond interchanges (26%).
DDIs help drivers easily navigate the interchange with overhead signs, pavement marking and traffic signals, and the design accommodates all road users: large trucks, pedestrians and bicyclists.
The DDI alternative also provides additional safety benefits for pedestrians including signal protection at almost all crossing points in the interchange.