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Verona Road/US 151 study - purpose/needs, statewide importance

US 151 (Verona Road) is classified as a backbone in the state transportation plan Corridors 2020. Backbone routes are the highest classification of route in Wisconsin. All interstates are classified as backbones too. Corridors 2020 backbone routes, while comprising only three percent of Wisconsin's roadways, carry 34 percent of all auto travel and 57 percent of all truck travel. Backbone routes are generally connected to one another with system interchanges that have free-flow ramps to handle the large traffic volumes.

By 2009, US 151 will be a four-lane expressway/freeway from Dubuque, Iowa, to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, except for the two-mile section of Verona Road. The five existing traffic signals on Verona Road will be the only ones on US 151 from Dubuque to Fond du Lac. (Note: in the Madison area the backbone portion of US 151 travels around Madison on I-39 and US 12/14)

The Verona Road/US 151 Interchange must carry the same traffic volumes as the nearby I-90/94 and Beltline/I-90 system interchanges. However, the footprint of the Verona Road interchange right-of-way is one-fifth the size of the other two. See a map showing the US 151/Beltline interchange compared with other area system interchanges. The Verona Road interchange uses conventional diamond ramps with traffic signals while the other two system interchanges are connected by free-flow ramps. This difference of free-flow ramps versus ramps with traffic signals is the primary reason traffic congestion and the crash rate at the Verona Road/Beltline interchange are substantially higher than the crash rates at the two area system interchanges.

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Southwest Transportation Region, madison.dtd@dot.state.wi.us
Last modified: May 13, 2008