Repairs On U.S. Highway 2 Complete

U.S. Highway 2 is open after June flooding washed out a segment of the road near Ino.

Diana Maas, spokeswoman with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), said it cost roughly $2.2 million to repair the stretch of highway.

“We replaced it with a bridge due to the hydraulics in the area, the risk of future flooding, and … to accommodate the trout stream,” she said.

Maas said WisDOT was already planning to build a bridge in 2019, but flood damage moved up the project. She said U.S. Highway 2 is a major route for northern Wisconsin with 4,230 people driving east to west each day. Mary Motiff, director of tourism in Bayfield County, said the road damage didn’t have much impact on visitors. But, she’s excited the highway will be open this fall.

“Apple Festival is one of our biggest festivals that happens here each year — Bayfield Apple Festival,” she said. “With that level of traffic that will be coming to the area all in over the course of the weekend of Apple Festival, that is really important that this highway is now open for that.”

Bayfield County detoured traffic on County Road G while repairs were made to U.S. 2. The county’s highway commissioner Paul Johanik said 3 miles on the eastern side didn’t hold up well due to increased traffic.

“We knew it would not fare well with that amount of traffic,” he said. “But it was agreed upon beforehand that the state would do repairs and everything for them using G as a detour.”

Except for County Road N, Johanik said road repairs are nearly complete. He expects work on flood-damaged roads to finish by the end of this month.