Avoid summer traffic headaches and watch out for these seven major construction projects in the Milwaukee area

Sophie Carson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It’s a common refrain in Wisconsin. There are two seasons: winter and road construction.

As the summer begins, the orange cones seem to multiply. Our list below details some of the major construction projects scheduled for the Milwaukee area in the next few months — so you can forget your traffic worries and keep your cool in the summer heat.

I-94 in Racine County

Travelers headed south to Racine, Kenosha or Illinois have likely already experienced the narrow lanes and miles of construction along Interstate 94. That project will continue this summer.

The goal of the project is to expand I-94 to four lanes in each direction. Some parts of the 35-mile section of interstate will be opened by year’s end, while the northernmost seven miles of the project — from about Rawson Road to 7 Mile Road — will open in June 2020.

The plan is to replace all existing bridges as well as multiple ramps and interchanges, so check before planning to enter the interstate or travel down nearby frontage roads between College Avenue in Milwaukee and Highway 50 near Pleasant Prairie. Most ramps are closed.

If you want to avoid I-94 entirely, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) has mapped alternative routes, available here.

Port Washington Road, running diagonal from upper left to lower right, and Silver Spring Drive in Glendale looking northeast with Bayshore Town Center. May 22, 2018. - Photo by Mike De Sisti and Jim Nelson / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Silver Spring Drive

Bayshore Town Center shoppers, beware: Construction is occurring on the West Silver Spring Drive bridge over the Milwaukee River in Glendale. 

The far left lane of Silver Spring Drive in each direction will be closed over the river until July 1. Then traffic will be reduced to a single lane in each direction until mid-August. 

If you want to avoid traffic, steer clear of Silver Spring between the Milwaukee River Parkway and Port Washington Road.

Those looking to enter or exit I-43 at Silver Spring should also mind the construction. Drivers exiting I-43 northbound cannot take the loop ramp to westbound Silver Spring Drive. It’s closed until early August.

And the entrance and exit ramps from I-43 southbound at Silver Spring are closed early July until mid-August.

I-894 in Milwaukee County

A series of projects on or near I-894 began in May and are expected to stretch into early fall.

Specific for closures vary for each of the six projects, and some are only expected to be closed at night. Check projects.511wi.gov for all the details on the following projects:

76th Street bridges; Forest Home Avenue bridges; Beloit Road bridges; Loomis Road resurfacing; noise wall installation from 84th to National Avenue; I-894 pavement treatments and markings.

Look out for signs as you head into that area; the DOT says it will have signs alerting drivers to the future closures. For instance, depending on the night, the interstate may have one or two lanes closed near 76th Street and Forest Home -- or the exit might be closed entirely.

Traffic flows past That's Amore Italian Cafe at South 108th St. and West Edgerton Ave. in Hales Corners on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018. Construction issues on the northbound lanes (at right) have delayed the project.

Highway 100 in Hales Corners

The dump trucks, dust and piles of rubble that have plagued 108th Street in Hales Corners for months aren’t going anywhere this summer.

Construction on the Forest Home roundabout completed in late 2018, and half of Highway 100 has fresh pavement and sewer systems. The latest stages of the project focus on replacing the southbound side of the road and finishing turn lanes and medians.

The good news: if all goes according to plan, the road will be smooth and clear of orange cones by the end of September.

RELATED: Here are the biggest road construction projects coming this summer to Hales Corners, Greenfield and West Allis

RELATED:Highway 100 reconstruction in Hales Corners is a month behind schedule

Pilgrim Road bridge over Capitol Drive

Anyone who uses Capitol Drive or Pilgrim Road as their major thoroughfares in Brookfield will need to rethink their routes this summer.

The Pilgrim Road bridge over Capitol is scheduled be entirely closed from early June until Aug. 24 to replace the bridge deck and paint the steel girders.

Capitol Drive under the bridge will go from three to two lanes during peak hours, and overnight crews will reduce it to a single lane in each direction.

Detour around the closure by taking the ramps onto Capitol: Northbound drivers should head east on Capitol, north on Lilly Road and west on Lisbon Road. Southbound drivers head west on Capitol, south on Calhoun Road and east on North Avenue.

Greenfield Avenue

Visitors to Wisconsin State Fair Park or the Milwaukee Mile Speedway should be aware of construction this June along Greenfield Avenue in West Allis.

Greenfield Avenue will be reduced to one lane in each direction from 92nd Street to 84th Street as crews resurface the road and repair storm sewers in some locations.

Intersecting streets might see temporary closures as the project necessitates it.

If there's a silver lining to a construction project, here it is: Construction started June 10 and will continue until July 8. The roads are scheduled to be cleared before the Wisconsin State Fair in August.

Traffic crosses Summit Avenue and heads into the construction zone of the West Waukesha Bypass in August 2017. The stretch of road from Summit to Northview Road will be completed this year, and work south of Summit to Highway 59 may also begin, pending a final decision on a railroad crossing.

West Waukesha bypass

A portion of Sunset Drive in western Waukesha County will remain closed for construction until the end of June.

It’s part of the two-year, $50 million effort to build a bypass to connect I-94 with Highway 59 on the city’s west side.

While the all-lane Sunset Drive closure from Merrill Hills Road to Pebble Creek Park will be cleared by June’s end, construction will continue on Highway 59 near Waukesha West High School until late November.

The left lanes are closed in either direction where Genessee Road intersects with Saylesville Road. With this final stage of construction, the new four-lane bypass should be complete.

RELATED:The $50 million West Waukesha Bypass project will (finally) be complete this fall

This map shoes the full West Waukesha Bypass project since 2017. The project began north of Northview Road that year by the city of Waukesha. Work by Waukesha County and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation continued southward in 2018 to Highway 18. The current project south of Highway 18 is under the jurisdiction of WisDOT alone.

For more information about all current construction projects in the Milwaukee area, visit projects.511wi.gov/region/southeast. And go to 511wi.gov, checking the “Roadwork” box in the legend, to see a map detailing all closures in the area.

Contact Sophie Carson at (414) 223-5512 or scarson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SCarson_News.