DOT prepares overhaul of I-39/Highway 10 interchange

STEVENS POINT – The state Department of Transportation is preparing plans for a complete overhaul of one of the city's busiest interchanges to make it safer, and the changes could dramatically change traffic on the city's east side.

The DOT will show city leaders at a Monday meeting the options engineers are considering for the Highway 10 East interchange. The DOT has prepared six designs — one of which involves leaving the interchange pretty much as-is — to make the shopping district safer and more efficient for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. Before the DOT determines a final design plan, it is looking for ideas from the public on which configuration would be best for everyone involved.

"We're looking to engage and educate the public, basically, so we learn from their perspective what kinds of issues they're working with," said Jeff Stewart, Wisconsin Department of Transportation project manager. "In addition, they can understand the things that we need to approach."

The project is estimated to cost anywhere from $14 million to $28 million, depending on which design is chosen. Construction is expected to begin in 2021, but the decisions that will dictate how construction proceeds will be made in the next several months, which is why the DOT already has met with some business owners on the east side and is asking for more input now. An estimated date of completion will be determined after a project plan is chosen.

The project is intended to address several safety concerns that have arisen as traffic volume has grown almost tenfold on I-39 since the early 1970s. The DOT already has made minor modifications to the interchange to address traffic that on busy days would back up into lanes of traffic in Interstate 39, but those have been stopgap measures, Stewart said.

Stewart said the DOT is working with both the city of Stevens Point and the town of Hull, because whatever design is chosen, it will have effects on local street systems in both municipalities.

The project seeks to address not just traffic backing up onto I-39, but also delays at traffic signals on Highway 10, safety for pedestrians and bicyclists who need to get from one side of I-39 to the other, and other safety issues, all while trying to ensure that businesses have access to the traffic they need and motorists can get into and out of nearby neighborhoods without waiting at lights for several cycles of a turn signal.

In its current design, for example, one I-39 exit ramp empties on to Highway 10 about 400 feet from a turn signal; if that signal is red, traffic can back up down the ramp and into traffic on the freeway. Current safety standards recommend about 1,350 feet between a ramp and a traffic signal, according to DOT standards developed to address that problem.

Stewart said growth from development in the area and increased traffic have posed problems for the interchange that was originally constructed in 1970, when the average daily traffic on I-39 between Highway HH and Highway 66 East was 4,520 vehicles, according to DOT data.

Today, about 30,000 vehicles travel that section of I-39 every day, and by 2020 that number is projected to increase to 40,000.

"If no action is taken, the existing roadway and facilities will continue to deteriorate; safety concerns as a function of substandard design will not be corrected and the long-term operational needs of the corridor will not be met," the DOT says in the documents it has prepared for public hearings.

The six options under consideration include all manner of traffic configurations to get motorists safely on and off the interstate, to local businesses and in and out of east-side neighborhoods: frontage roads; backage roads; new municipal roads to provide access to properties along Highway 10; cloverleaf-pattern ramps; a diamond-shaped ramps; even oft-maligned roundabouts.

The DOT will make a presentation Monday to the city's Board of Public Works about the project, explaining all options for how to reconstruct the highway. Meanwhile, the DOT still is eager to hear from residents and business owners as it tries to accommodate everyone's needs in the reconstruction.

Sari Lesk can be reached at 715-345-2257. Follow her on Twitter as @Sari_Lesk.

If you go

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will give a presentation to the city's Board of Public Works regarding the proposed project.

When: 6:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Lincoln Center, 1519 Water St., Stevens Point

Share your thoughts

Let the DOT know what you think of the plans by emailing comments to jeffrey.stewart@dot.wi.gov or tpolum@srfconsulting.com