Nicole Robinson

After 20 years of planning, the $100 million U.S. Highway 53 bypass project is moving ahead of schedule, said Brent Pickard, communications manager for the Department of Transportation in Eau Claire.

When the project is complete, the four-lane divided highway will extend from the Highway 53/Golf Road interchange area to a new Highway 29/53 interchange in Lake Hallie.

Construction on the 7.5 mile-project began in August 2002 and is scheduled for completion in spring of 2006.

Due to savings on other projects across the state and having the plans ready, Pickard said, the project was able to start 18 months early.

The project is moving so smoothly, Pickard said, that the section from the North Crossing area to the north will be able to open in spring of 2005 – 18 months ahead of schedule.

“The last couple of years we’ve had really mild winters,” Pickard said, “and the winter of 2002-03 they only had to shut down for about two weeks.”

Senior Melissa Krohn, who takes Highways 53 and 29 to travel home to Wausau, said since the project began, it’s added about 15 minutes to her driving time.

However, Krohn said, she is excited for the project’s completion.

“I can’t wait for it to be done. Then I won’t have to stop at any stoplights … and not have to deal with any of the people coming out of the businesses onto 53.”

Students traveling home for the Thanksgiving break shouldn’t be inconvenienced by any road construction in the Chippewa Valley, said Rick Shermo, project development supervisor.

Due to holiday restrictions, Shermo said, traffic will be kept open.

While he said it’s the time of season where they won’t be working in the roadway anymore, but rather in the median, bridge building will cause a detour this week.

In the “wee hours of the morning,” workers will be replacing the bridge that carries Highway 93 over Hastings Way.

“Tuesday is the first scheduled operation, and we can’t have traffic going underneath,” Shermo said. A small detour will take drivers around the project, but “nothing that would add any extensive traffic delay,” he said.

With the majority of the work for the next couple years focused on the south end of the project, Pickard suggests drivers consider alternative routes to places such as the Oakwood Mall area.

“The less traffic we can have, the safer it will be,” he said, adding that they can’t reroute the Illinois travelers on Fridays, so it’s up to the local traffic.

While construction is weather dependent, crews will continue to work through the majority of winter, Pickard said.

When designing the project, Pickard said, they wanted to find the best way to accommodate the economic growth in the Chippewa Valley, which is one of the fastest growing areas in the state.

With about 40,000 vehicles traveling Highway 53 each day, the completed project will divert about 20,000 cars off of Hastings Way, according to the DOT Web site.

This diversion of traffic will make Hastings Way a lot less congested, Pickard said, which in turn will increase safety.

“I think this has been such a long time coming for most of the people in the area that are waiting for it to be done,” Pickard said. “After 20 years of planning, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”