WisDOT updates the public on Foxconn road construction
MOUNT PLEASANT (CBS 58) - As the Foxconn project moves forward, so does road construction in the area.
Monday the Wisconsin DOT held a meeting to update the public about what’s going on.
Foxconn is a massive project and so is the road construction to support it.
Between work on the interstate and roads around the Foxconn site, drivers are seeing a lot of orange barrels.
The DOT holds meetings every month as a chance to give information and take in feedback.
“It’s a mess,” said Beth Konicek referring to the road construction around the Foxconn site.
Beth and her husband Ryan live in the area.
“There’s so many more dump truck and stuff going down 90th street even, all day long,” said Ryan.
That’s why they went to the DOT’s monthly meeting.
“A lot of activity going on, a lot of potential disruptions to people and their lives,” said Ryan Luck from WisDOT.
Luck is overseeing the project. He says with so many moving pieces it’s important to stay connected to the people living in the area.
“I think people just want to know, they’ve heard bits and pieces and they can come here once a month and get it right from the engineers that are managing the work,” said Luck.
Right now the most obvious part of that work is an 11 mile stretch of Interstate 94 that contains lane and ramp closures.
“Some people feel like their access is restricted,” said Luck, “and it is but we get something in return, very fast construction with an aggressive schedule that returns the freeway and those ramps back to the public sooner than we normally would see.”
An additional 7 mile stretch will be closed in the coming weeks, but the interstate will remain open to traffic throughout the project.
“We’ve got aggressive contractors and aggressive schedules, we’ve got good oversight, we think we’ve got a great plan,” said Luck.
“Quite a change for a little town,” said Ryan Konicek.
The Konicek’s say meetings like the one the DOT held Monday night, help deal with the mess.
“So far not really inconvenient, you just got to work around it and go with the flow,” said Beth Konicek.
Not everyone is happy with the project.
We spoke to homeowners who didn’t want to go on camera, but who bought their house in the area four years ago.
They say if they had known this is coming they never would’ve bought here.
The DOT has information about the project as well as updates on timelines on their website.