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Business & Tech

Highway 33 Project Crawls into Fall Months

Motorists will keep on battling construction traffic while work continues on the project meant to help shorten travel times for drivers.

Construction along Highway 33 is in phase two of a four-phase project, leaving little relief this fall for motorists who travel along the stretch of road that connects Port Washington with Saukville.

While motorists are experiencing delays right now along the east- and westbound lanes of Highway 33, the goal of the project is to help shorten travel times for drivers.

"The roundabout intersections are designed to keep continual movement of traffic at the intersections, improve safety and eliminate the frustration of motorists having to stop and wait at signals," said Roy Wilhelm, Saukville Village director of Public Works.

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Originally, it was hoped that the entire project would have been completed in 2011, but the DOT did not finish the real estate acquisition process until mid-April, setting back the start of the project.

The Department of Transportation broke ground on the project on May 31 after utilities were moved. Highway 33 is being expanded from two lanes to four lanes from Interstate 43 to Port View Drive in Port Washington due to increased traffic along this stretch of road. The expansion stretches from the Milwaukee River Overflow Bridge in Saukville to South Tower Drive in Port Washington.

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"We are (also) replacing the traffic signals at Foster Drive, both ramps off I-43, as well as adding roundabouts at Market Street, Northwoods Road and County LL," Southeast Freeways Communications Manager Emlynn Grisar said.

Wilhelm said that Saukville has been making sure to express the concerns residents have with the project to the DOT by attending weekly project meetings. Village officials are also working to keep residents up-to-date on the progress of Highway 33 by posting the construction schedules on the Village’s website, cable access channel and its e-newsletter.

Grisnar said the DOT is cooperating with the Saukville and Port Washington as the Highway 33 project progresses. The DOT contractor is working "expeditiously" in order to keep the project on track with the schedule. She also thanks the community for their cooperation in the coming months.

"The public has also been very understanding and we appreciate their efforts to drive slowly and safely through the construction site, keeping our workers safe," Grisnar said.

Port Washington City Engineer Rob Vanden Noven said the contract with the DOT had been anticipated for many years. Vanden Noven is hopeful the project will be done by the beginning of next summer.

The construction project costs about $13.5 million. Saukville officials estimate the village will pay about $2.5 million of that cost; Port Washington will pay $1.2 million.

The city has been provided with a $605,000 landscaping credit. Vanden Noven said that most of the money will be used to plant approximately 400 trees, but "the rest will be escrowed to maintain the landscaping, especially in the first few years."

Port Washington also received a $142,000 credit for community sensitive design to ensure that the ornamental street lighting in the city is consistent along the expanded road.

Other improvements include a bike path being established on the south side of Highway 33 up until Sweetwater Boulevard, where it will switch to the north side of the road. Vanden Noven considers this a spur to the .

This fall, traffic on the section of the project in Port Washington will move over to the newly constructed westbound lanes, so crews can begin the underground work on the other side. Crews will work until the ground freezes. Construction will resume in March or April, depending on the weather, according to Vanden Noven.

The removal of the County LL Bridge that crosses over Highway 33 freed up a portion of land in Port Washington owned by Ozaukee County. Vanden Noven believes the county could possibly market that land for development in the future.

The short-term frustration caused by the project is just a small part of reaching a long-term improvement in the community.

"It's not only going to help the community expand, but obviously it's going to then serve that expansion," Vanden Noven said. "So by creating more developing space you're going to presumably increase traffic flow and then the project itself handles that traffic flow."

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