ELLSWORTH – The Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Engineer Geoff Rasmussen from CBS Squared Inc. provided an overview of the Ellsworth Main Street road construction project Tuesday, Aug. 10 at Ellsworth Village Hall.

Rasmussen answered questions and provided information to the village board, business owners and citizens. Barry Bowman, contractor superintendent for Chippewa Concrete and Brett Hollister from Wis- DOT also attended to give more insight and answer questions.

The proposed improvement projects will take place along US Highway 10 (Main Street) from State Highway 65 (North Maple Street) to North Beulah Street and Highway 65 (North Maple Street) from US Highway 10 (Main Street) to Midway Avenue (Fairgrounds entrance) in Ellsworth.

The project will begin on Monday Aug. 23 and phase one is estimated to take 40 working days, which does not PROJECT

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account for weather and does not include weekends or holidays.

The project has been delayed several times due to supply chain challenges caused by workforce shortages. The project will now be completed in two phases: The first phase of the project is focusing on construction of sidewalks, curbs and walkways to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Currently, the sidewalks and ramps are not up to the ADA code so this is a priority to start with.

“The scope of the project starts with the ADA code; many of the curb ramps will be upgraded and getting those all up to code especially at the intersections and that’s going to go through the project,” said Rasmussen.

Aside from sidewalk and ADA ramp compliance construction, the first phase of the project will also include milling, replacing asphalt and pavement marking along Highway 65 and Highway 10 (Main Street), but not including any part of the intersection at this time.

Businesses on Main Street should prepare for no parking access in the fronts of stores as well as some construction along the sidewalks. The project will still allow for cars to drive through Main Street during construction.

“There will be no parking on Main Street but there will be traffic on the inside while paving the outside and vice versa,” Rasmussen said.

Next spring the project will be completed. During the second phase of the project, the intersection will be completed along with any other part of the project that may be delayed until then. The project is being split into sections and some of the processes will be delayed due to supply shortages.

The second phase of the construction will focus on the intersection of US Highway 10 and State Highway 65; there is need for electrical supply that is not currently available. This portion of the project is expected to take 20 working days starting in April 2022.

During the time of construction, Rasmussen will have an office at the Ellsworth Village Hall and will be available throughout the duration of the project to answer any questions from the public.

Map courtesy of Wis-DOT