WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) – A $309 million project that will make it easier for you to travel through the Wausau area on two major state highways has wrapped up.
Governor Doyle, Congressman Dave Obey and Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple held a corridor completion ceremony Monday morning on the six-year, seven-mile Highway 51-29 interchange project.
“These roads are so much safer, they provide such a better basis for commerce in this area,” Doyle said. “This is really an important project.”
Planning for the new corridor first began in 1997 and construction on local side streets began in 2003. Actual construction on the interchange between Foxglove Road and Bridge Street began in 2004.
During the life of the project, crews removed 2.7 million cubic yards of excavated materials, poured 540,000 square yards of concrete pavement and 154,000 tons of asphalt pavement and erected 2,296 tons of structural steel.
“When people ask, 'What's an earmark?' That's an earmark,” Obey said pointing to the highway behind him. The Wausau Democrat helped secure $53 million in federal funds for the project in his role on the House Appropriations committee.
“And I make no apology for it. I think it has added to the economic strength of this area and it will for the time to come.”
