Spring Break
Road construction to continue into fall
Traffic on Hastings Way restricted to one lane until project completed
Timothy Langton
Issue date: 4/12/07 Section: Campus News
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Brent Pickard, communications manager at the DOT, said reconstruction of the interchange between Hastings Way and Clairemont Avenue should be completed some time in October. The construction on I-94 will also continue after Labor Day, Pickard said.
"Those structures (on the interchange) were originally built in 1966, so they had come to the end of their useful life," Pickard said, explaining the reason for the construction project. Pickard added that there were plans to repave Clairemont Avenue this year as well, but that project has been delayed until next year.
According to a March 2 press release on the DOT's Web site, the construction that began on March 5 is to reconstruct the Hastings Way/Clairemont Avenue interchange. The $6 million project will replace the southbound structure, closing the ramps from northbound Hastings Way to Clairemont Avenue, according to the press release. Hastings Way traffic has been restricted to one lane both ways since the beginning of construction and will continue until the project is completed.
Pickard said there will be occasional overnight closures of Clairemont Avenue when construction demands it. Clairemont Avenue will still have two open lanes underneath the structures under repair during the daytime, he added.
The $3.9 million resurfacing project on I-94, taking place in the six mile area between mile markers 87 and 03, will be put on hold after Memorial Day and resume after Labor Day to avoid the peak summer travel season, according to Pickard.
"One lane of traffic is open in each direction, so motorists should expect some delays," he said.
Al Quakenbush, a freshman at CVTC who lives in Towers North at UW-Eau Claire, said he finds the construction to be time consuming when he drives through it. He said he is largely against the construction project and the inconveniences it causes.
"It's annoying," Quakenbush said. "It takes a lot of time getting through (the construction). I think it wastes taxpayer money."
Drivers heading east on Clairemont Avenue will be detoured onto Fairfax Street, Skeels Avenue, Mall Drive and Route 93 until construction is complete. Westbound traffic on Clairemont Avenue will be redirected onto Hastings Way, Brackett Avenue and Rudolph Road.
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