2027 Hwy 175 Project Updates

Greg Payne, consultant project manager, and Craig Hardy, WisDOT project manager, presented updated Hwy 175 improvement plans to Town and Village of Theresa residents during the Department of Transportation (DOT) public involvement meeting on Thursday, April 10.
Initially planned for the spring of 2026, the project has now been scheduled to begin in the spring of 2027 and reach completion that November.
The Hwy 175 project is split into two sections. The “rural” section includes the highway stretch starting at Hochheim Road and continuing to Menomonee Street. Planned improvements for this section are a two-inch mill and overlay, paving a three-inch shoulder, adding shoulder and centerline rumble strips, repairing culverts, and repairing or replacing the bridges near Hochheim Road and Zion Church Road.
The other section of the project is the “urban” section. This section includes the stretch of Hwy 175 that runs from Menomonee Street to County DD. The proposed improvements to the “urban” section are replacing pavement, underlying base, and curb and gutter; replacing the sidewalk and ramps between Henni Street and Park Street; replacing the storm sewer system and Village of Theresa-owned water and sanitary utilities; and replacing the Rock River bridge deck. The DOT will also be widening the highway by three feet between Park Street and County DD to continue the allowance of parking after receiving community feedback at the previous involvement meeting.
The “urban” section of the Hwy 175 project will be completed in four stages. The first stage will be at the intersection of Hwy 175 and Menomonee Street and will not allow the passage of local traffic.

“We have a 12-foot deep storm sewer right there that’s right in the middle of the intersection,” explained Payne. “We looked at ways to do this construction, and unfortunately, our contractor is going to need about one or two weeks where we have a hard closure there to get that done. Being 12 feet down and in the very middle, there just is not a safe way to get people around there.”
Stage two of the “urban” project section includes the closure of Hwy 175 from Menomonee Street to Rock River Street. Local traffic can use Menomonee Street and Rock River Street as a detour. Entrance onto Hwy 28 and Forest Street from Hwy 175 will also be closed due to bridge construction. Half of the bridge will be open as a one-way with traffic controlled by temporary stoplights. This stage of the project will take roughly three months.
Hwy 175 will open up to Rock River Street during stage three. There will be no access to Rock River Street directly from the highway. Entrance onto Hwy 28 and Forest Street will still be closed as construction shifts to working on the other half of the bridge. One-way local traffic will again be permitted on the bridge with stoplights. Stage three is estimated to take one or two months to complete.
Bridge construction will continue into stage four of the project; however, access to Hwy 28 and Forest Street will open. Entrance onto Rock River Street and Park Street from the highway will close. Along with half of the bridge, stage four includes the closure of Hwy 175 from Park Street to County DD. It will take approximately one to two months to complete this stage.
Throughout the entire construction process, the contractor is required by contract to provide access for residents and businesses situated directly on Hwy 175 by maintaining a twelve-foot lane for deliveries, emergency vehicles, and garbage pick-up.
“In those work-zone areas, we will have a 12-foot maintained road,” stated Payne. “It may be gravel at times, but there will be some road where you can get to your property.”
There will be no parking on the highway. Business parking must be on sideroads.
“That makes pedestrian access that much more important.” Payne explained, “Our pedestrian access plan for this project is actually far more complicated than our plan for vehicles, so the main takeaway there is we are staging the sidewalk replacement to try to help get folks to business and everything.”
A business coordination meeting is tentatively scheduled for spring 2026, though Payne and Hardy encouraged businesses to begin planning now.
“It’s not too early to start thinking about that,” stated Payne. “Start thinking about where your deliveries are going to be coming from and how your patrons will know how to access your business. Those are things that are good to start thinking about right now.”
“Businesses can start collaborating now and getting plans and saving because it is impacting. This type of urban project where there’s no parking allowed is a very collaborative effort,” said Hardy. “Businesses can start working together and come up with a program to advertise, to get people in, finding routes...because it is impacting.”
For more information about the project or to leave a comment, contact Craig Hardy via email at craig.hardy@dot.wi.gov or call 608-246-5406.
View more information about the project design at https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/projects/by-region/sw/wis175-theresa/default.aspx#location.