With Door County, Wisconsin, a vacation destination for hundreds of thousands each summer, two-lane Highway 57 is often clogged with campers, SUVs and trucks hauling boats, and vehicles that are unable to pass the slow-moving recreational vehicles.

Traffic congestion on Highway 57 is expected to ease with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) construction of a four-lane, divided highway from Green Bay, Wis., to Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

With traffic volume in summer picking up by approximately one-third, traffic on Highway 57 jumps from 10,000 to 12,000 vehicles per day to 16,000 vehicles per day, according to WisDOT.

Simply put, that is a lot of traffic for a two-lane highway to safely carry.

The 28-mile expansion project is being constructed in three phases: the Highway 54/Highway 57 interchange, which was built in 2000–2001; the expansion of a two-lane highway to a four-lane highway with two frontage roads from the Highway 54 interchange to Dyckesville, Wis.; and the last 20-mile expansion around Dyckesville and north, which will be an expansion to four lanes, with the existing highway serving as a frontage road.

Work to expand Highway 57 to a four-lane highway this summer includes: RelyCo., DePere, Wis., building the Highway P interchange and doing the grading for a 1.5-mile section near Dyckesville; James Peterson Sons Inc., Medford, Wis., grading a 3.5-mile section of highway north from Dyckesville to the Door County line; and Mashuda Contractors, Inc., Princeton, Wis., doing the grading for a 6.5-mile stretch at the far north phase of the project between Highway H and Highway 42 near Sturgeon Bay.

The two sections of Highway 57 being graded near Dyckesville this summer were let as separate grading jobs. A single contract will be let in November for the five-mile paving job, which is expected to be complete in the fall of 2006.

"As far as cost, we thought it would be better to let it that way," said P.F. O'Connor, PE, project manager for WisDOT.

The 6.5-mile project at the north end of the job near Sturgeon Bay, which includes grading and paving, was let as a single, two-year contract.

"Due to traffic phasings on the far north end where we will tie into the existing four-lane, we thought we'd see a savings by letting a combined grading and paving. By our estimates, we did," said O'Connor.

Mashuda Contractors, Inc. is the prime contractor for the more than $10-million project. Mashuda's contract calls for an estimated 741,500 cubic yards of material to be moved this year.

WisDOT management treats the two grading projects near Dyckesville similarly, while the northern most grading job, which is 10 miles from the other jobs, is treated as a separate project.

"Because of the distance between them, I treat them as separate jobs," O'Connor said.

Grading near Dyckesville included clay cuts of 18 feet to 20 feet.

RelyCo.'s contract calls for approximately 402,000 cubic yards of earth to be moved. In Kewaunee County, Peterson had moved 250,000 yards by mid-June.

Peterson moved an average of 10,000 yards to 12,000 yards a day on Kewaunee County Portion. A total of approximately 860,000 yards is expected to be moved by Peterson, according to WisDOT.

The Peterson crew has been using a pair of John Deere tractors to pull double-bottom scrapers to do some of the grading. The double-pan scrapers are being used to strip top soil and in areas where scrapers don't have to be pushed, said Jeff Peterson.

The double-bottom scrapers are lighter and more maneuverable than conventional scrapers, and have a quicker cycle time.

While the double-bottom scrapers are finding a place in the construction industry, the equipment won't replace conventional scrapers.

"They're very site specific. You have to have the right soil conditions," said Peterson.

The double-pan scrapers can't be pushed, and can't be used in rocky soil or soil where there are large cobbles.

Brian Snowball, an equipment operator for 32 years, including 22 years on a scraper, was one of the operators pulling the double-bottom scrapers at the Highway 57 jobsite.

"They're lighter, and it feels like it's higher," said Snowball. "With these, you just float over it. It's a different rig."

Several borrow pits are being used during the grading work for Highway 57.

A borrow pit has been created in the Brown County section of the job because work includes construction of the Highway P interchange.

Work on the adjacent Kewaunee County section includes an adjusted profile to create a more balanced project.

"We do have some waste, but we're going to be stockpiling that on the far north end of the job for a future project," O'Connor said.

A small volume borrow pit is included on the far northern section near Highway 42 in Sturgeon Bay.

"We adjusted the profile, and I believe we have 200,000 yards to 250,000 yards of borrow," said O'Connor.

Grading on the two sections near Dyckesville is to be completed this season, with base course and paving expected to begin in April of next year.

Soil conditions on the Highway 57 expansion have been a mix.

"There was rock in Brown County. The Kewaunee County portion is a silty clay, and they're really working the material to get it to dry and be a stable road product. On the far north end, they're running into a bonier, more rocky-type clay," O'Connor said.

The northern section includes work in an old cedar swamp, with construction debris being hauled to a nearby farm.

Another environmental concern has been the archeological remains that dot the area.

The large number of archeological sites has been a factor in the route selected for the expanded Highway 57 to follow.

The four-lane highway has been relocated away from the existing highway, in part, because there were as many as 109 archaeological sites in WisDOT's original plan. Rerouting the highway has reduced to eight the number of sites where archaeological data must be collected.

"We avoided a lot. There were some sites where we were told it would have been millions of dollars to do the archaeological work," O'Connor said.

Some sites along the proposed route are of great importance to Native Americans. Out of respect to native peoples, the route of the highway was changed to avoid those sites.

Information gained as a result of archaeological work prompted by construction of the expanded Highway 57 has revealed Native Americans lived in Door County earlier than had been believed.

"The history of Wisconsin will be re-written," O'Connor said.

The history of European settlement in the area also played a part in the route of the expanded highway.

The Highway 57 expansion includes bypasses around Dyckesville, Brussels and Namur.

The final six-mile section that is a full relocate around the communities of Brussels and Namur was prompted, in part, by Brussels listing in the national registry of historic places. Brussels, with the highest concentration of Belgium development in the United States, has been deemed a historic place.

"Because of that, we can't do any development in that area. That was probably the biggest push for the full relocation about a mile to the east," said O'Connor.

The relocation of the expanded Highway 57 is one-quarter to one mile from the existing highway around Dyckesville.

Relocating the highway has meant no lane closures on the existing highway during construction.

"Because we'll eventually use the existing highway as a frontage road, there'll be no need for lane closures until later in the projects when we have to make tie-ins for temporary traffic," said O'Connor.

Construction of the Highway 57 expansion project began in 2004, and is expected to be complete in 2008.

The four-year time frame for the project enables WisDOT to purchase right of way necessary for the construction of the relocated highway. Approximately 350 acres of land, including a dozen homes, have been purchased for construction of the highway.

"They're still buying the middle section, as we're building this section," said O'Connor.