State To Halt Highway Work To Accommodate Memorial Day Weekend Traffic

The state is halting its highway construction work ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

Crews will move orange construction barrels and open up additional lanes to accommodate extra traffic before clearing work zones at noon Friday, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Wayne Chase of the DOT said drivers should still use caution when driving through work zones, because the lane configurations in some areas have changed.

“We do have some projects going on I-41 in the northeast part of the state with some possible lane configurations which are not normal,” Chase said. “The Zoo Interchange project in Milwaukee would be another big one where folks might be seeing some different traffic patterns.”

AAA Wisconsin projects more than 766,000 residents will travel over Memorial Day weekend, a 2.6 percent increase over last year’s figure.

DOT expects the heaviest traffic Friday afternoon and Monday afternoon.

More traffic also means greater risk of accidents on the roads, said Randy Romanski of the DOT. State Troopers and local law enforcement will be enforcing speed limits, and watching for impaired and distracted drivers, he said.

“This also happens to coincide with the national Click it or Ticket enforcement mobilization,” Romanski said. “Law enforcement agencies will be out in force enforcing the seat belt law.”

Highway construction work will resume Tuesday morning.

Editor’s Note: AAA Wisconsin is a WPR underwriter.