Dells Parkway to Receive Major Facelift

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Wisconsin Dells Parkway has been prone to traffic interruptions and rear-end accidents because of the lack of left turn lanes. It also has less than ideal pedestrian traffic due to the lack of a sidewalk on the west side in the Wisconsin Dells portion of the road.

A new Wisconsin Department of Transportation project scheduled for 2025 aims to solve both of those issues. The Highway Safety Improvement Program is funding two of three segments of the project, which will consist of a five-lane roadway that will allow people turning left a two-way left turn lane, which is a center lane to turn from that should greatly reduce rear-end collisions and improve traffic flow.

The two segments receiving the new lane will run on Wisconsin Dells Parkway from its intersections with County A to Adams Street.

“What we’re looking to do with this two-and-a-half mile corridor is address safety concerns,” said Wisconsin Department of Transportation Southwest Region project manager Derek Potter. “Any time someone wants to turn left, it builds up a queue of traffic behind them and we get some rear-end crashes.”

There are two proposed models each for the upcoming five-lane segments.

“We applied for safety improvement money for the southern two segments and that will be a full replacement of the roadway,” said consultant project manager Mary Beth Pettit of GRAEF, an engineering, planning, and design firm based in Milwaukee.

Construction for the project is scheduled to begin in early 2025 and be completed in fall of 2026. There will be hiatuses during the summer months due to increased traffic volume. Decisions on alternatives for the southern segments as well as ideas on traffic flow during construction will be made in follow-up meetings in the spring and fall of 2022.