A 18/151 corridor study update meeting was held at the Ridgeway Community Center on Monday. A presentation was made by Jerry Shadewald from HNTB Engineering, who answered questions as different aspects and options were presented.
The 18/151 project is from Dodgeville to Dane County Hwy PD/ McKee Road. Jerry explained that there are different traffic needs to the east of County Hwy G, and west of Hwy G to Dodgeville. Hwy G is on the west side of Verona and has a different traffic pattern, and that pattern, when studied, is not expected to change significantly.
Growth in Barneveld has been projected and factored into the plan. Traffic numbers have continued to be counted after reconfiguration of Hwy K to right off and on only in 2025.
There has been an uptick in small vehicles on some side roads. Large truck traffic is using the intersections more. The desire to avoid harvest trucks in Barneveld was expressed. It was also expressed to make Ridgeway more accessible for traffic into the village.
The desire to engineer the final plan to upgrade to a 75 MPH speed rating with the speed limit to be a maximum of enforcement of 70 MPH. This type of planning will reduce crash reductions by 8% at 65 MPH. The present bridges have been evaluated at 70MPH, and no planned major changes are needed to most of the bridges as they are structurally solid.
One of the road design deficiencies is the median width of the present 50 feet. The narrow median safety studies suggest a cable guard rail between east-bound and west-bound lanes. The cable guard rail also comes with an accident rate increase. The desire to see a 60-foot minimum median is highly desired. This would most likely not happen in the deep cuts on the road right away or in some places where the ATC towers are located.
The other factors that we were reminded of were facts that 14 curves were designed for a 55 MPH speed limit and will need to be reengineered. A couple of these will be a challenge to design. It was pointed out that in the corridor, the vertical engineering on 12 curves has some water pooling. The number of intersections with large sight deficiencies appears to be 20.
The intersection of HHH and Hi- Point Road on the east side of Ridgeway will be one of the sections that will be a challenge to engineers with the ATC line and sight deficiency. The options for a continuous frontage road or discontinuous frontage roads were shown.
At the present time, the continuous frontage option would go from Hwy Z to Hwy BB just south of Cedar Direct Wisconsin. The continuous frontage road would then be added to start at Hwy HHH and extend into the Village of Barneveld. That would utilize the current intersections in Ridgeway and Barneveld. Hwy ID would be the frontage road to Mt Horeb. These changes would effectively make the 18/151 expressway into a freeway.
It appeared that if a discontinuous frontage road configuration were designed, short frontage roads would be constructed. This appears to move some traffic to where sightlines are already constructed and would meet 75 MPH speed limit standards. The handout map shows a frontage road from Hwy HHH on the east side of Ridgeway to Hwy T south between Ridgeway and Barneveld. Some Restricted Crossing U-turns, known as RCUTs, would be constructed and utilized where higher speed limit sightlines can now meet standards. State Hwy 18/151 would remain an expressway as it is now. No additional overpasses or intersections were shown in this presentation.
The suggestion that a weigh-station could be constructed near Hwy Y in the future. This would replace the weigh station near Dubuque and cover checking truck weights on Hwy 18 to Prairie du Chien and Hwy 151 to Dubuque.
This presentation was focused on Iowa County from Hwy YZ to the Dane County line near Blue Mounds. The timeline presented is to develop alternative concepts to address the corridor needs in 2026. The final plan is hoped to be finished in 2028, with construction to start in 2032. The next update to the corridor has been suggested in 2055. Known attendees were from Iowa County and the Village of Ridgeway, along with DOT and HNTB engineers and consultants. You can make comments and sign up for schedule updates at TinyURL.com/18151study
