Checking your property in WI? The detour on I-94 just got a lot bigger

[HereSince1628]

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/19828549.html

If your route includes driving westward from Milwaukee to Madison you'll want to keep an ear out for changes in this detour.

This is one of the longest detours I've ever seen in Wisconsin. Apparently the formal detour must be able to match standards similar to the roadway that is closed...

So in order to go west on I-94 the detour now begins at Delafield (not quite 30 miles west of Milwaukee) you must go south to Beloit (roughly 60 miles) and hook up with I-90 then drive back to Madison (a bit over 50 miles). My experience suggests this detour is about 2 hours of driving.

So. If you are coming through the Chicago area and heading north or west of Madison--don't bother coming north through Milwaukee on 1-94, you'll end up nearly back in Rockford--which you can get to on I-90 with less than half the driving.

My understanding is after trekking back north along I-90 you will find a portion of it closed at Madison.

[fudge stripe cookays]

1. I'm heading to Minneapolis next week.

Looks like I'll be heading north/northwest up to around Oshkosh and then cutting over straight west.

[dembotoz]

16. I hear 21 from oskosh to tomah is best route available

guy from my office ran it this last weekend.
hope this reaches you in time

[fudge stripe cookays]

19. Yeah...I shoulda done that.

My boss convinced me that 10 running near her hometown (Fremont) is a pretty drive, so I took that instead.

The exits near Oshkosh were not well labeled though, so I had to double back after getting almost all the way to Appleton! Then I got to Stevens Point, headed north to Wausau, and took 29 all the way over to 94.

Everybody laugh at the newbie!

The detour actually worked really well. I made a genealogical detour through Menomonie, not expecting much, but managed to find a house AND a grave I needed a pic of. Yay!

[dembotoz]

2. going to the dells today-gonna try 60 to 16 and up

my usual path
looks ok on the closing maps i have seen.
milw to madison via beloit is moronic

[dembotoz]

15. just got back

couple of detours
portage is a bit of a nightmare
2 more bridges were being closed on hwy 60 coming back just now
hustiford and just west of 26 by lowell.
hustiford detour was not marked yet.
Lowell--they were unloading signs when i got thru
river looked really high.

good luck

[mduffy31]

3. I was supposed to go to my cousin's grad party in

Fort Atkinson down from Superior, but I couldn't because I can't get stuck down there.

[HereSince1628]

4. They aren't letting anyone into Jefferson who isn't a sandbagging volunteer

So getting to "Fort" from Madison would require you to use some back-roads

[madrchsod]

5. downtown janesville is going under water...

electricity is out in many areas...another dam east of portage broke....

[DollyM]

6. oh oh . . .

We are moving back to Illinois next week (southern Illinois so no FIB comments please!) and take 90/39 into Illinois. I am a bit concerned if this is going to mess us up and detour us way out of our way. A moving van, a teenager and a cat making an 8 hour move is bad enough, I hope this doesn't make it longer.

[HereSince1628]

7. My son is a DJ in southern Illinois. He is still my son but

he will always be a Southern Illusion. Good luck on the trip.

[LiberalFighter]

8. Why would anyone go 94 from Chicago to get to Madison or beyond?

[undeterred]

10. Because the tollway through IL is a pain in the butt

and sometimes there are traffic problems or construction between Beloit and Madison.

[LiberalFighter]

11. And there isn't on 94 between Milwaukee and Madison?

The times that I use 90 I haven't had any problems.

And why is 94 thru Illinois better than taking 90?

[undeterred]

12. I don't see one as better than the other

except that you don't pay tolls in Wisconsin, and you will spend more and stop more in Illinois. There might be weather, traffic, or construction reasons to choose one over the other.

[LiberalFighter]

13. How much do you save going 94 vs 90?

90 would be a shorter route and once you get to Beloit from Chicago the tolls stop?

[undeterred]

14. Illinois has IPASS at their tolls

When I used to live in Chicago the tolls were 40cents each and there were 5 of them. Now that they have IPASS, people without it (out of staters) go through one lane and pay cash: http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&_pageid=133,1495185

Its different at every toll- usually $1- but if you go through all 5 between Beloit and Chicago you'll pay between $4 and $5 one way. There are tolls between Chicago and the IL/WI border too- more like $2 total. The toll was implemented to pay for the road once, but the road was finished decades ago and people are still paying!

In terms of physical distance I think going through Beloit to Illinois is shorter, but the difference is around 10-15 miles. Depending on the time of day there will be traffic to slow you down going through Milwaukee or in the Chicago area. And it depends of course, on whether you're really going to Chicago itself or a suburb.

[hornblast]

9. Pictures of flooded Wisconsin farms and rivers along I-94

http://haas414.wordpress.com

As I had to run over to Madison yesterday, having a camera with me meant I could take some pictures of the flooding caused by the past weeks’ storms. I’ll put them below the cut so you don’t have to see them unless you’d like to. There’s shots of the empty eastbound I-94, traffic backed up traffic on the same road, and flooded fields and rivers.

[ginnyinWI]

17. They say it will be open by the end of this week--

According to today's paper. They're going to re-route westbound traffic into the eastbound lane like they do for road construction. It's gonna cost us about $900,000.

www.JSOnline.com/junefloods

[fudge stripe cookays]

18. I heard that...

39/90 will be open by Sunday. This makes me happy. I'm heading back from Minneapolis...trying to plan my eventual route.

:hi: