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Impatient driver delays Waukesha road construction

Posted at 6:43 PM, Nov 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-30 09:28:04-05

WAUKESHA -- A construction project in Waukesha has taken even longer to complete after an impatient driver removed barricades and drove through fresh concrete. 

According to the City of Waukesha, the driver physically removed barricades on Moreland Boulevard near Manhattan Drive on November 9, and then drove through the construction zone. 

The road has been closed since May and was supposed to reopen to traffic almost two weeks ago.

For businesses along this stretch of Moreland Blvd., these last six months have felt like forever. 

"It's like it's a never-ending construction project," said Kurt Sonnenburg who owns iNET computers, located right at the end of the project. 

He said the construction has made it really difficult for employees and customers to get in and out of his parking lot.

"We would have been out of business if we just relied upon driving traffic," he said. 

His company fixes computers and electronics but also runs an advertising wing to produce commercials.

The end to the construction was in sight before the city said a driver went through the concrete.

"While they were pouring the eastbound direction lanes, a driver drove into the construction site disobeying the barricades," said Alex Damien, a city engineer for the City of Waukesha.

As a result, the driver damaged about 570 feet of roadway and was cited by police. 

"It delayed the project probably over a week and a half," Damien said. "Everything in that section of the project had to stop until that could be straightened out and then removed and replaced." 

He said it caused about $100,000 in damage. That cost won't fall on the city, it will instead fall on the contractor's insurance. 

The project was also delayed when crews had to repair a 27-inch sewer line when a failure was recently discovered. 

With both delays taken into account, the city said the road will reopen to traffic on December 2. 

For businesses like iNET, they just can't wait for it to be over. 

"I should get some donuts for the construction workers...thank you for being done," Sonnenburg said.