Ayres on Wednesday was presented a Consultant Rural Design Award from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s 2023 Excellence in Highway Design program. The award was for the USH 53/USH 63 Interchange project at Trego in WisDOT’s Northwest Region, which replaced two dangerous at-grade intersections.

The project, which was substantially complete by November 18, 2022, required extensive public input and environmental coordination to achieve a design that responded to the Trego community’s diverse needs while minimizing environmental impacts. The project also entailed considering multiple design alternatives before settling on one that balanced cost factors against various impacts to surrounding infrastructure and delivered efficient navigation for the traveling public.

The project in Washburn County included reconstruction of about 1 mile of USH 53 and reconfiguration of several local roads around the interchange, including realignment of CTH “E” and construction of new service roads parallel to USH 53.

USH 63 was realigned southwest of Trego, and the new interchange is approximately one-half mile south of the previous USH 53/63 intersection.

WisDOT designed the interchange overpass structure, the USH 53 structures over Potato Creek, the Wild Rivers Trail overpass structure, and retaining walls, and Ayres incorporated the structure plans into the final plans, specifications, and estimates.

Impacts associated with this complex project included residential and business relocations; access modifications; and impacts to wetlands, a railroad, and the Wild Rivers State Trail, as well as investigation of several additional potential impacts.

Among the Ayres staff with big roles on the project are Eric Sorensen, project manager; Mark Petersen, design project manager; Kevin Kuhlow, roundabout design; Mark Hedrington, roadway design; Carie Resheske, CADD technician; Brian Lambert, stormwater and lighting design; and Nate Woolever.