Repair of bumps force rolling closure on I-94 in Waukesha Co.

WAUKESHA (WITI) -- A rolling closure along I-94 in Waukesha County beginning at 10 p.m. Wednesday night, January 29th  to mill down the ‘bumps’ that have formed on bridge overpasses.

"There's a number of locations along that stretch and we're gonna mill them all down tonight in the overnight hours," said Michael Pyritz, the DOT's Communications Manager.

The DOT is focusing on three parts of I-94 in Waukesha County. The include the overpasses at Springdale, Brookfield and Moorland Roads. Officials say the bitter cold weather is solely responsible for the bump issue.

"When it's mixed with the salt on the road and the heat on the road, it melts, it penetrates into the cracks in the road and when it get these temperature drops, it freezes, further compounding the situations we're seeing on the roadway," said Pyritz.

The milling set for Wednesday night will improve the conditions motorists are experiencing when driving along I-94. The work will begin at 10 p.m. on the westbound lanes of I-94 at Moorland. All lanes of traffic will be closed for approximately 15 minutes at each location. All the work is expected to be completed by 4 a.m.

The State Patrol will be assisting with the rolling closure in addition to signage trucks being used to alert drivers to the work. Delays are expected in the area.

In the meantime, the bumps have brought many unlucky drivers to F and F Tire Word, just off the freeway.

"You hit it and it's almost instantly, the tires are flat or popped," said Michael Golownia, a worker at F and F Tire World. "They're pulling right off the exits and coming here, saying, 'I don't know what happened' and they have it marked now saying 'bump' but we've had quite a few come in just because of the two on I-94."

In addition to flat tires, Golownia suspects the bumps are responsible for some of the bent rims and suspension problems he's repaired.

"People are hitting these things at 65 miles an hour and you can see cars pull over, flat tires or having to get towed in because it damaged their cars," said Golownia.

If additional work is required, updated releases will be sent out. As always, use of the 511wi.gov website will help provide traffic information.