Construction set to start on Highway 164 next week

By Patricia Bogumil

Editor

With spring fast approaching, it’s time to get ready for Wisconsin’s second season: road construction.

Local officials say they hope to head off in advance any foreseeable problems likely to rumble down the road in the Highway 164 reconstruction project, due to start in Tichigan March 25.

But there’s only so much they can do since the project – scheduled to be finished by Nov. 1 – is being run by the state Department of Transportation (DOT), explained Waterford Town Chairman Bob Langmesser,

Langmesser, who retires in April after serving 25 years as town chairman, has been one of the local go-to guys for the highway project.

He and Town Supervisor Tom Hincz this month have attended meetings with project engineers and construction and utility representatives, raising questions with them in advance to avoid what Langmesser fears will be a big mess for drivers once construction (and detours) start this month.

Hincz, with an engineering degree in project management, has been tasked with keeping the state on track with its project specs, which are spelled out in excruciating detail in a thick binder kept at the town hall.

After April 2 either Hincz or Supervisor Tim Szeklinski will be voted in as town chairman, and tasked with deciding who at the town hall will be in charge of what.

In the road project, Highway 164 will be fully rebuilt, with one gravel lane for traffic kept open for much of the project. It’s a project that definitely needs to be done, said Langmesser.

Once school ends in June, work begins from North Lake Drive to County Line Road.

Then, for almost two months this summer, when workers dig out the marsh just south of Beach Drive, Highway 164 will be totally closed to traffic. Emergency vehicles are planned to be stationed on both sides of the construction zone since no one will be driving through it.

“People from Norway and Dover will be driving in from the south, and they’re going to find out they can’t get through,” Langmesser said.

The state promises to erect plenty of detour signs, with traffic diverted over to highways Y (Racine Avenue), 36, 83 or Interstate 43.

Or drivers can figure out their own best route to get around, Langmesser said.

But the detours will take people way out of their way, Langmesser warned.

Adding to the problem is a box culvert replacement scheduled on Highway 164 near Maney’s Golf Range and a project through Big Bend from Henneberry Avenue to I-43.

“We request that drivers have patience and be considerate when driving within the work zone,” advised Traci Gengler, the DOT project manager.

The project:

According to Hincz, each phase of the project involves removing existing pavement; either cutting or adding fill and a coarse subgrade; installing any culverts or sewer modifications needed; putting in curbing, if needed; installing fine subgrade material; and, finally, laying down asphalt.

In addition, signage, parking and road markings will be put in place; ditch work and all grading and seeding completed.

Planned dates and work zones for Highway 164 project

Stage1:

• On March 25, work begins from Sandy Lane north to Dorie Lane. This work is planned to run to May 7 and ends with laying down blacktop.

• April 11 to May 10, construction will be from Sandy Lane to Beach Drive.

• April 25 to June 6, construction moves back north from Dorie Lane to Poplar Circle.

• May 17 to July 23, construction will be from Poplar Circle just north of North Lake Drive.

Stage 2:

• June 12 to July 3, construction goes north from North Lake Drive up to the Tichigan fire station.

• June 14 to July 9, construction will be from the fire station to Jensen Parkway.

• June 18 to July 19, construction will be from the town park halfway to Washington-Caldwell School.

• June 21 to August 1: construction continues all the way up to Washington-Caldwell.

• June 27-Sept. 3, construction finishes up all the way to and a little north of County Line Road .

Stage 3:

• July 22, workers begin removing marshland from Beach Drive south, closing Highway 164 to all through-traffic for a planned 46 days. Not until Oct. 18 will asphalt be in place, with final completion of the whole project aimed for Nov. 1.

For most of the project, a single gravel lane is planned for homeowners and businesses. But for Stage 3, that’s not happening, said Hincz.

“It’s important for people to know that these are ‘fictitious’ dates in the timeline, because everything depends on weather and they’re going to have to adjust according,” Hincz added.