UPDATE: This story has been changed to correctly identify the location of the headquarters of the winning bidder, Michels Corp. The company is based in Brownsville, Wisconsin.
Work begins in March on the initial phase of the expansion of Highway KR. Westbound segments will kick off the campaign.
Wisconsin Depart of Transportation received three bids for the work, with the winning proposal from Michels Corp. It’s $14.9 million bid was the lowest of three for the first phase of the Highway KR expansion. The expansion was triggered by the arrival of the Foxconn project in Mount Pleasant.
WisDOT predicts there will be substantial completion of the project before this time next year. Additional median construction and other finishing work are planned into spring 2020.
Michaels Corp. is already on the scene as it was awarded two earlier contracts totaling $250 million for I-94 reconstruction projects near Foxconn-related exits and access roads.
Michels Corp., based in Brownsville, Wisconsin, was the lowest bidder at $14,918,859.31, according to a regional spokesman for WisDOT.
The KR project will expand the roadway from the east frontage road of I-94 to just east of Highway H, transforming it into a six-lane, divided urban roadway. Work will include an intersection with a new road, Wisconn Valley Way, storm sewers and new traffic signals.
Coordinated staging
WisDOT will coordinate the staging of construction as well as managing traffic with surrounding infrastructure projects, including the Foxconn manufacturing campus construction.
While Highway KR is a county highway, the state has taken temporary jurisdiction over the roadway by way of a transfer agreement with the county.
Under the agreement, negotiated among Kenosha and Racine counties and the state of Wisconsin, the state is responsible for the full cost of Hwy. KR construction from just west of Interstate 94, east to new path of Green Bay Road (Highway 31). The full project is estimated to cost between $30- and $40-million. It will include two railroad overpasses.
Check out the latest edition of The Buzz, our column about commerce in Racine County.
