Highway 41 Construction Project Moves Into Green Bay Area

The state Department of Transportation is advising drivers to expect intermittent closures on Highway 41 in northeastern Wisconsin, as a construction project on the major route moves into the Green Bay area.

The project began in 2009 and will eventually make Highway 41 into a six-lane thoroughfare when it is done at the end of 2016. Some of the biggest stages of the project are happening this year.

Mark Kantola, a spokesman for the DOT, says work in Winnebago County around Oshkosh is almost done, “but Brown County now is going to take the brunt of the orange barrels.”

Kantola says seven bridges and overpasses are being taken down this year. He says work is done overnight to spare drivers having to bypass the work.

Kantola says some drivers haven’t gotten the message: So far this year, he says, seven cars have purposely driven into work zones.

“We ‘demoing’ a bridge and the car was trying to go around the orange barrels so they could continue on over the bridge instead of taking the marked detour,” said Kantola. “This kind of driver behavior can’t happen. And to have seven of them already this year is mind boggling to me, and so dangerous for our construction workers.”

The DOT posts construction updates on Facebook and Twitter. This week, it will issue a printed version of a travel guide that includes construction information.