Ahh! Finally, as the ballgame lets out a little after 10pm last night, a certain group of local fans already in a good mood after the team’s 5-1 victory look forward to getting to do something they haven’t been able to do since the 2014 baseball season. That is take the southbound ramp on to I-894 from westbound I-94 via the Zoo Interchange. It’s that sense of relief, no more “back roads”, stop & go traffic, frustration of the years that have gone by without taking your’ regular route home. You never got used to it. The media even acknowledged the Zoo Interchange’s long awaited ramp opening last week. But wait.
You heard a mention of “certain group of local fans”, above. That’s because this certain group had to endure then the unacceptable closing of the westbound ramp of I-43 at the Hale Interchange! Yes, the DoT had the nerve to go ahead and close the “next leg” of many commuter’s standard route home last night with an overnight closure of that ramp that began at 10pm thru 5am the next day. The available detour redirected commuters back eastbound I-894 to the crowded off ramp on 84th street where they would’ve had to have driven about a half mile south to Layton Ave then turn westbound on that stretch of road and head 40 blocks all the way to the Milw/Wauk County line in order to get back on to I-43 westbound. Sure, there were portable matrix signs that may’ve warned motorists prior, by reading “ Ramp Closed Tuesday 10p – 5a” blah, blah, blah…” and that. But to be honest, people are always sick of seeing that type of bad news that by now during these highway rebuilds that one must zone those signs out while driving a high speed and by trying to convince themselves on the brink of that Zoo ramp finally opening and saying to themselves “Oh they’re not going to close the HALE INTERCHANGE ramp now after what they’re doing by reopening the Zoo Interchange ramp!”. But, arrogantly, they did. Our solution, leave the ramp open after city events like for baseball games & city festivals, and give the union workers work elsewhere!
The next known closure for this (Hale) ramp will be Tuesday, July 3rd. Go to https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/trafficinfo/wi.htm for updates on this particular ramp and other ramps on Wisconsin highways to see if they’re open or not.