PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — Traffic at a busy interchange on the north side of Port Washington has surged dramatically, and city and state officials are now moving to address it with both temporary signals and permanent road improvements.
Wisconsin Department of Transportation data shows exiting traffic at the Interstate 43 interchange at exit 100 rose 76% between 2023 and this month.
Officials and residents attribute much of the increase to data-center-related construction traffic in the area.
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The interchange has never previously been busy enough to require traffic lights. WisDOT confirmed that new temporary traffic signals are scheduled to go online Wednesday.
Debra McShane, a former Ozaukee County resident who still visits Port Washington regularly to shop and relax, said the change has been impossible to miss.
"You'd pass through here, and you'd never see a dump truck. Now you're right behind one," McShane said. "It'll help the situation once [the traffic lights get] turned on, but the fact that they need to have the lights here, there's so much more traffic."
Port Washington neighbor Jaime Rismeyer said she tries to avoid using the interchange at peak times.
"(For the trucks) getting off, and then they'd line up way down at the end (of the ramps), so they used to have police down there to help," Rismeyer said.
Beyond the temporary signals, a longer-term solution is also in progress. City Engineer Roger Strohm said crews are working on widened lanes for trucks and dedicated right-turn lanes to accommodate the thousands of vehicles now passing through the interchange daily.
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