FreightWaves Classics/Infrastructure: I-41 primarily serves Wisconsin

Interstate 41 (I-41) is one of the newer highways in the nation’s Interstate Highway System, or IHS. The route was officially added to the IHS on April 7, 2015. I-41 connects Milwaukee and Green Bay with the Fox Cities in Wisconsin.

I-41’s total length is 176.33 miles. It is a north-south interstate highway that connects the interchange of I-94 and U.S. Route 41 (US 41) to an interchange with I-43 in metropolitan Green Bay, Wisconsin. It begins at the I-94/US 41 interchange in Russell, Illinois, which is located less than one mile south of the Illinois-Wisconsin border at the end of the Tri-State Tollway.

Along its route, I-41 travels concurrently with US 41, I-894, US 45, I-43 and sections of I-94 in Illinois and Wisconsin.

History

Securing funding for the new interstate was easier than determining its number. The sections of US 41 and US 45 from Milwaukee through the Fox Valley to Green Bay were proposed and designated as an interstate highway as part of the 2005 highway funding bill (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users) that was passed by the U.S. Congress. 

In the legislation’s initial language, the new interstate highway was designated as Interstate 41, which correlates with the U.S. highway it parallels (US 41) and also complies with the interstate naming guidelines of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). However, the final version of the legislation omitted the I-41 designation. 

That omission led Green Bay officials to begin a campaign in 2009 to have US 41 designated either as a northern extension of I-55 (from its current termination point in Chicago), or as a spur of I-43.

AASHTO’s Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbers of AASHTO discussed the designation of the new interstate as an extension of I-55 on May 18, 2012. If the highway had been designated as a new section of I-55, coordination would have been required among the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).

However, IDOT officials did not want the new interstate designated as I-55 from its current Chicago terminus to the state line. The leadership of WisDOT then decided to seek a different designation that would not require the cooperation of IDOT. 

Therefore, WisDOT put forward four different potential designations for public review. They included two new primary designations (I-41 and I-47) and two auxiliary designations (I-594 and I-643). WisDOT then submitted I-41 to AASHTO at the end of October 2012, in the hope that AASHTO’s fall Special Committee meeting would take action on the request. AASHTO conditionally approved the I-41 designation on November 16, 2012 (pending FHWA agreement). On April 9, 2015, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced that the FHWA had approved I-41 as the newest highway in the IHS.

Once the designation of I-41 had been approved, WisDOT replaced or modified nearly 3,500 signs by September 2015 after coordination with IDOT and the FHWA. From that time (and over a period of five to 10 years), shoulders were scheduled to be rebuilt as older parts of the former U.S. highway were upgraded. The re-designation to interstate status also made the route subject to the Highway Beautification Act. This meant that advertising billboards along the Milwaukee-to-Green Bay portion of the interstate could no longer be upgraded or enlarged nor could new billboards be added.

I-41 today

The southern terminus of 1-41 is near Russell, Illinois. Its northern terminus is at Suamico, Wisconsin. Of the interstate’s total mileage, almost all of it is in Wisconsin. 

The major cities in Wisconsin that I-41 goes through or passes include Kenosha, Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, Appleton and Green Bay.

The route in Wisconsin

Interstate 41 replaced US 41 along the corridor between Milwaukee and Green Bay via Fond du Lac and Appleton. This included US 41’s overlap with I-894 and along I-94 southward from Milwaukee to Exit 1A and the Illinois state line. As noted above, the $5.9 million project to add I-41 signs to US 41 through Wisconsin took place between late May and November 2015. 

The creation of I-41 created an unusual situation; a U.S. Route (US 41) was changed to an interstate with the same number. That has only happened one other time (US 74 and I-74 in North Carolina). US 41 is no longer acknowledged from intersecting routes or along highway guide signs.

Construction projects

Because I-41 was a conversion of a U.S. Route to an interstate highway, there have been projects along its length to bring the highway up to interstate standards and/or to improve sections of the highway.

Among the major projects was the Zoo Interchange Project centered around the highway exchange where I-41, I-94 and I-894 converge on the west side of Milwaukee. Work began on this project in 2012. Construction upgraded the substandard exchange of left-lane exits built in 1963 into a four-level systems interchange. Additional work was done to expand and modernize I-41 southward to Lincoln Avenue and I-94 west beyond Wisconsin State Route 100 and east to S 76th Street. 

Other projects included: the Greenfield Avenue Interchange – the Greenfield Avenue bridge was replaced in 2013; the Watertown Plank Road Interchange – upgrading the original diamond interchange into a free-flow directional cloverleaf interchange was completed by the end of 2014; the Bluemound Road Interchange – new ramps were added from the I-41/U.S. 45 mainline to U.S. 18. 

High Priority Corridors

Interstate 41 is part of two High Priority Corridors. High Priority Corridor 32 is the Wisconsin Development Corridor and High Priority Corridor 57 is the U.S. 41 Corridor from Milwaukee to Green Bay.

Source: freightwaves - FreightWaves Classics/Infrastructure: I-41 primarily serves Wisconsin
Editor: Scott Mall