Marquette Interchange Update

Two Years Down, Two to Go in Milwaukee

by Elaine Schmidt

Anyone who has driven into downtown Milwaukee in the past two years is aware that there is a construction project under way on the Marquette Interchange, which connects interstates 94 and 43.

But they may not be aware of the enormity of the project.

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"The Marquette Interchange project has been defined by people with a national background in these kind of projects as the most ambitious urban interchange construction ever attempted, in terms of maintaining two lanes of traffic in four directions and doing so while reconstructing the entire interchange," said George Poirier, oversight manager in the Madison, Wis., office of the Federal Highway Administration

The $810 million project began in 2004 and is slated for completion in 2008.

It replaces one-lane system ramps connecting I-94 and I-43 with two-lane ramps, switches existing left-hand access ramps with right-hand ramps, replaces existing pavement and roadbeds with a perpetual-pavement recipe of asphalt over gravel and replaces aging sewer lines that serve the roads.

Overall, 5.5 mi. will be rebuilt. A stone layer of 18 in. of crush stone, 6 in. of 1.25-minus stone and 4 in. of open-graded stone comprise the redone mainline. The asphalt on top will be 13 in. thick.

The project includes the closure and reconstruction of 13 on/off ramps, with five more to be closed and replaced by new ramps. Nine bridges will be demolished and eight of them replaced.

Work includes the completed Clybourn Street Project adjacent to I-94. The second phase, which is still under way and is the project's longest stretch, is I-43 from Wells Street to North Avenue. Other phases under way include the west leg, south leg and the core contract.

Marquette has been overused since the day it went into service in 1968. It has handled double the expected traffic, reaching 300,000 cars a day in the early 2000s.

Ahead of Schedule

Speaking at the two-year point in the four-year project, Brian Manthey, communication director on the Marquette Interchange project for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said that two mild winters have allowed certain segments of the project to get as much as five months ahead of schedule.

"We are on track to hit certain milestones about five months earlier than planned," he said. That means that certain segments of roadway will open to the public ahead of schedule, during the first week in January 2008 rather than the first week in May.

Bumping those openings ahead of schedule means that crews will be able start the next round of demolition and substructure work ahead of schedule.

"Demo work, pile driving and placing footings can all be done in winter weather," Manthey said. He added that under the original schedule, that work would have taken much of summer 2007 to complete.

But getting the demolition and substructure work completed over the winter was based on the coming winter being "normal or mild," he added.

Hitting a few milestones ahead of schedule does not necessarily mean that the project will be completed ahead of schedule, but, "It takes out a great deal of the risk that it will go later than planned," Manthey said.

In addition to the mild winter, several factors helped keep the enormous project on schedule and pushed portions of it ahead of schedule.

Manthey gave teamwork credit to Marquette Constructors, the company formed by Edward Kraemer & Sons Inc. of Plain, Wis.; Lunda Construction Co. of Black River Falls, Wis.; and Zenith Tech Inc. of Waukesha, Wis.

"WisDOT wondered if this would work," Manthey added. "Could three companies that are normally fierce competitors coming together and work as a team?"

After two years, the answer is yes.

For Tom Hessling, construction team leader for the Chicago-based CTE Engineers, one of the key elements in the project's success thus far has been the ability and willingness of individuals and firms livings up to commitments they made.

"Marquette Constructors had secured in-state fabricators and gotten commitments made by a lot of different industries," Hessling said. He cited PDM Bridge in Wausau and Eau Claire and Spancrete Inc. in Green Bay among those fabricators, saying that both companies were fabricating around the clock to meet demands and had trucks performing a constant delivery process, circling from plant to site and only stopping long enough to load.

"For me it was playing a hand of poker and hoping we had been dealt the right cards - and we had," he said. "Everybody who had a hand in this project has been really excited and energized about it. They have been really sympathetic to what we are doing and have gone the extra mile to help out."

Cost, Scheduling Tools Help

The use of new tools, such as Earned Value Analysis, a methodology for tracking costs and scheduling and projecting that data into the future, has also had a positive impact.

Dave Scott, the Marquette Interchange coordinator for the Federal Highways Administration's Madison office, said, "WisDOT put a full range of skill sets on the project full time so that they have all the resources they need right there."

The full-time people included projects schedulers, engineers, cost trackers and soils people.

Keeping the public apprised of changes and closures and providing alternate route suggestions have been key elements in keeping downtown open for business throughout construction.

Manthey cited recent figures indicating increased ticket sales for several downtown-based organizations, including the Milwaukee Bucks and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, as one indication that WisDOT's communication plans are working and keeping downtown open for business.

Some Headaches

Worker and traffic safety records have been good on the project thus far. Manthey credited the fact that no workers have suffered major injuries with WisDOT's safety program and vigorous self-policing by the various contractors. He added that keeping the public apprised of construction progress and responding quickly to traffic and signage issues have prevented any major traffic accidents on the busy site.

But the project has not been without a few headaches.

Manthey pointed to the collapse of old, brick sewer inlet during heavy September rains.

"Ironically, we were going to close that area in a few weeks anyway," he said.

The collapse, which would likely have occurred without the construction going on in the area, occurred on a Sunday night, flooding the Brown Street area of I-43 to car rooftops.

He said that some of the construction workers and engineers, "got out there, grabbed a backhoe and were able to guess where to dig to open it up," he said. The moment it was opened up, water began pouring down into the sewer. Crews covered the hole with a plate and some asphalt, and all was well by the time Monday morning traffic hit the area.

Manthey said that much of the work slated for the next two years deals with structures for elevated portions of roadway, including tying two new ramps into the existing I-94 "high-rise" bridge that spans the river valley on the south side of downtown.

"Coordinating the building of all of the system ramps, the spaghetti bowl as it's called, and keeping traffic moving will be more complex than what we have been working on to this point," Manthey said. "But everybody is confident in the plan."

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