MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A major construction project along I-94 is wrapping up its latest phase that's focusing on protecting one of Milwaukee's most historic sites.

In order to expand the interstate, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) says first, it needs to protect the land around it. That’s why steel plates are going up around Wood National Cemetery.

The machines may look powerful, but the goal is precision.

CBS 58

“Started there on the east end and now it’s coming to the west,” said Eric Hanson, the WisDOT construction project manager.

Along the Hawley Interchange near I-94, crews are slowly pressing massive sheets of steel nearly 30 feet into the ground next to Wood National Cemetery.

“It’ll separate those stakeholders from the freeway as we expand through here,” said Hanson.

The steel sheets will help prevent the soil from eroding as construction work continues.

“What we’ve done is shifted traffic to the north to provide us this work zone to do this work during the day,” said Hanson.

Each sheet can take anywhere from seven minutes to up to three hours to install, depending on the soil conditions. Crews are hoping to wrap up this part of the multi-million project in the next few weeks.

“They’ll set it into this machine and press it in,” said Hanson. “The reason that we’re doing a different method here is because we are so close to these stakeholders.

Soon, I-94 will go from three lanes to four. For now, the focus for these workers is protecting the space beside the lanes before construction moves even closer.

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