Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

WisDOT holds Hurley roundabout meeting

By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

Hurley - Iron County's board room was packed Thursday night as Wisconsin Department of Transportation representatives provided an update on a pair of planned projects in Iron County, including the construction of a roundabout at the U.S. 2/U.S. 51 intersection.

Andy Dana, with the engineering firm Ayres Associates, provided some background for the roundabout project for those who may have missed the previous public meeting in August.

"The reason why we're looking at doing this is the existing bridge is in poor condition. Something needs to be done to improve the condition of the bridge," Dana said He said a variety of factors - including traffic volume, cost, safety factors, changes in standards since the current U.S. 51 bridge was built and some larger trucks traveling on U.S. 2 no longer being able to get under the current bridge - now made the roundabout the most viable option to replace the existing bridge.

Dana said two major changes were made to the roundabout design since the August meeting - the accommodation of bike traffic into the roundabout design and the addition of bypass lanes to allow some vehicles to avoid entering the roundabout.

According to the information presented at the meeting, drivers traveling west on U.S. 2, those traveling east onto U.S. 2 from northbound U.S. 51, and those getting onto U.S. 51 after traveling east on U.S. 2 will be able to bypass the roundabout.

"So now the only people that are going through ... the roundabout itself are the people going through eastbound and the people ... northbound to westbound. Otherwise you'll end up using one of the bypass lanes, you won't be going through the roundabout itself," Dana said.

The design features a single-lane roundabout, which those presenting said was the simplest type of roundabout as it didn't allow for multiple lanes once in the roundabout.

The project does call for making the section of U.S. 2 west of the current interchange that is a four-lane road into a two-lane road with the change, according to Dana, although there will be wide shoulders for those who want to turn into a business or driveway without having to worry about cars coming up behind them.

Along with the roundabout project, Thursday's presentation also involved additional work on U.S. 2 in the county. That project will involve milling and paving a 8.4-mile stretch of U.S. 2 from roughly County B near Saxon to County D in Kimball, according to information presented at the meeting, as well as replacing an undersized culvert just west of County D at Kaari Creek.

WisDOT is continuing to accept comments on the projects through March 12, with the designs expected to be complete this summer. Under the timeline laid out Thursday, construction for both projects would be scheduled for the summer of 2021.

No detours are planned for either project, according to the information Thursday, with flagging, traffic shifts and lane closures used to keep the roads open during construction.

Comments on either of the projects can be emailed to [email protected] or [email protected].