Residents Get First Look At Foxconn-Related Road Improvement Projects

Groundbreaking next year for the $10 billion Foxconn plant will be accompanied by the launch of a $600 million package of road improvement projects. Local residents got their first look at those plans Thursday evening.

“What I do like is that they’re definitely informing people what’s going on,” said Harv DeYoung, one of several hundred residents who milled about two large rooms full of blueprints in Mount Pleasant’s Village Hall.

Those plans spelled out in detail the changes that will be made to Interstate-94 between northern Kenosha County and southern Milwaukee County. They include an extra lane in either direction, improvements to interchanges and frontage roads, and the necessary infrastructure to allow for the possibility of driverless vehicles.

“We want to be prepared when we’re done that the investment we make is ready to accept whatever connected and autonomous vehicle technology is out there,” said project director Brett Wallace of the state Department of Transportation.

Foxconn is interested in the driverless vehicles to bring in workers from remote parking lots to its complex in Mount Pleasant, and to haul in freight from General Mitchell International Airport.

The four-year project will also include extending roads near the Foxconn plant and turning two-lane roads into highways that could span as many as eight lanes.

When all is done, I-94 will be eight lanes from Milwaukee to the state line.