US 41 has been relocated and upgraded many times over the years as it passes between Neenah and Appleton, WI. Its origional course in the 1920s took it north out of downtown Menasha to Appleton via Racine St and Valley Rd (the N-S and E-W parts of 'County P'). After a couple of years it was relocated to the course of current WI 47 (on the SE corner of this map). Several years later, it was relocated completely out of the City of Menasha to Lake St (west of 'Little Lake Butte des Morts' - the 'Little' was cut off on the map) from Neenah to Appleton. This course used the street running south from the 'BM 754' at the west end of the bridge, across the railroads to the frontage road to the left of the 'US 41' shield and then to its current routing north to the next interchange ('Co BB/Prospect Av'), taking Prospect Av into Appleton.
By the early 1930s, this routing was inadequate (the metro area kept growing during this period, in that it did not feel the effects of the 'Great Depression' like the rest of the USA did. This is because much of the paper made in the area is something one needs whether one is working or not) and by the middle of the decade bypasses of Appleton and Neenah were approved. This reroute used Green Bay Rd in Neenah and extended the current course of the highway northward to current Northland Av (Co 'OO'/WI 15) and pushed the highway next to the railroads (one can see the elevation contours of this grade by tha 'US 41' shield and under the south of the two warehouses by the interchange). Access to Lake St was maintained via a primiative NB on-SB off interchange and a bridge over one of the railroads.
In about 1960, US 41 was widened into a typical rural 4 lane divided 'expressway', with at grade intersections with all of the sideroads.
The bridge over Little Lake Butte des Morts (it is also the Fox River) was built in the early 1970s, opening in 1975. It is a bare minimum width 4 lanes, with 'Jersey' barriers and no shoulders. US 41 was shifted somewhat to the west when this bridge and its interchange were built. This bridge origionally connected directly to Racine St via a straight 4 lane roadway, complete with an at grade crossing of the railroad (an industrial branchline) and was marked as 'County Q'. Also at this time, work began to upgrade US 41 to an interstate compatible freeway, and this included a westside frontage road. This frontage road ('American Drive') is the current road running north from the US 41 shield and continued southward to the road that is now dead-ended south of the interchange. The 'County Q' bridge ended at American Dr at a 'T' intersection. There was also access from US 41 to American Dr here via intersections in the interchange (I have lightly highlighted these ramp connections, which were elimiated when the freeway was extended west in 1997).
In late 1991, after over 30 years of planning and anticipation, the WI 441 freeway was opened in Winnebago County. The Calumet and Outagamie County parts opened in late 1993. This was one of the most popular urban freeways in WisDOT history, so much so that the local municipalities and counties took it upon themselves over the years to acquire the right of way, turning it over *at no cost* to WisDOT in the late 1980s when construction began. WI 441 takes an interesting course in the otherwise nearly completely FLAT area east of the bridge, this to avoid a nieghborhood, cemetary, the railroad and several industrial plants. The ramps of the 'County P/Racine St' interchange ALL cross the railroad at grade (the crossings are 'FRA Exempt', however). The S-curve section has a 90 km/h speed limit due to the curvature and the narrowness of the bridge. The SWB 'on' ramp from Rancine St has its complete merge within the curve (and I am VERY surprized that there has not yet been a SERIOUS traffic accident there). Also, inexplicably, these freeways are NOT 'streetlit'. The bridge now carries over 50,000 ADT.
US 10 was relocated off of its origional routing on surface streets in the City of Appleton to WI 441 and US 41 (to the north) in about 1993.
US 41 was also reconstructed and widened into a 6 lane urban freeway in the early 1990s.
In November, 1997, the west extension of US 10 was opened as an interstate compatible freeway to US 45 (about 5 km west of the edge of the map). The West Side Arterial ('County CB') was opened at the same time and provides a speedy way for locals to travel north-south in that area and will eventually connect Neenah's south side with Greenville, passing by the Outagamie County Airport terminal (the section from WI 150 to WI 15 is now open). Also at that time, American Dr was severed and extended west as a 'north' frontage road and named 'West American Dr'. (Due to a street name policy screwup by the Town of Menasha there are now three seperate 'American Drives' in the area, VERY confusing.) As of this writing, WisDOT is working to extend US 10 further west as a combination 'freeway/expressway' to the Stevens Point, WI area.
The US 10/41/WI 441 interchange is currently incomplete. There is NO direct access between US 41 and US 10 to and from the west (one must use surface streets). WisDOT did not have the cash budgeted to build the ramps (this interchange and bridge was designed and built 'on the cheap' all along). It is expected that the EB US 10 to SB US 41 and SB US 41 to WB US 10 ramps will be built in 2000. The EB to SB ramp is about half graded, complete with a 'notch' in the grade where the ramp to NB US 41 is expected to diverge (I have highlighted the expected course of these ramps with dashed lines). The 'ghost ramps' are there where they are to connect to the US 10 mainline. Other long term plans for this area also include a parallel bridge to be built immediately south of the existing bridge (the existing bridge will become 3 lanes westbound, the new one 3 lanes eastbound), a third level 'fly over' ramp for the WB to SB connection, disconnecting Lake Street from the interchange and reconnecting it to '(South) American Dr' (exact location not yet determined as the 'Town' doesn't want it to feed into 'Jacobson Rd' (the E-W road south of US 10)), further re-engineering of the interchange and continued recreational trail development in the area (there are trails along the south edge of the US 10 and west edge of the 'Co. CB' rights-of-way, and an abandoned railroad bridge over the lake just off the map to the south is expected to be incorporated into the trail system). The railroads along US 41 are being upgraded by the Wisconsin Central and now carry 20-30 trains/day (it is their mainline to Green Bay and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, as well as providing service to numerous paper mills in the Appleton to Kaukauna area).
It is a fascinating piece of roadwork history in a RAPIDLY growing area.
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This page © Michael G. Koerner |
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