Bluemound Road Construction Enters "Final Phase" (For The Third Time)

WAUKESHA — Construction on Bluemound Road between Pewaukee Road and US-18 entered what officials are calling its "final phase" Wednesday, marking the third time in as many months that the project has been described that way in an official capacity.

The current target completion date is August 28, a figure that has appeared on project signage twice before, in June and again in July, each time attached to the word "final." County officials say this occurrence of "final" is not related to the previous two and should be evaluated independently.

Local contractor Robert Ellenson, 48, who has overseen the project's paving crew since April, told reporters Wednesday that the work remains "absolutely on schedule." Asked to clarify which schedule, Ellenson said the term refers to an internal project calendar maintained by his crew that has not yet been made available to the public, the county, or, by his own account, his site foreman.

The Calendar

Ellenson described the internal schedule as "pretty firm" and said it has been updated four times since March, each time to reflect what he called "new information about the ground." He declined to say whether the ground had gotten worse, better, or simply more informative, but confirmed the schedule currently shows August 28 as a completion date "unless something changes, which it might."

"We're absolutely on schedule. It's just not a schedule you've seen."

— Robert Ellenson, contractor

County Public Works records show the Bluemound Road resurfacing project was originally bid with a 9-week timeline in March. It has since run 22 weeks, a figure the county attributes to "subsurface utility conflicts," a phrase that has appeared in three separate project updates without further elaboration.

Commuters along the corridor have adjusted to a rotating single-lane configuration that has, by one informal count kept by a Sunset Drive resident, changed direction six times since May. Diane Vandehey, 61, who drives the stretch daily en route to county fair planning meetings, said she has stopped checking which lane is open and instead "just follows whoever's ahead of me and hopes."

Third Time's The Phase

County spokesperson materials distributed Wednesday describe the current stage as covering "final grading, curb work, and top-course paving," the same three items listed in the June and July announcements, with paving now scheduled roughly six weeks later than either previous estimate.

Ellenson said the delay between the first "final phase" in June and the current one is best understood as "phases within the phase," a structure he compared to "layers, like an onion, except the onion is asphalt and it's late." He said residents should expect the August 28 date to hold "barring weather, materials, or the ground doing something else."

A county project sign near the Pewaukee Road intersection was updated Tuesday to read "Final Phase Underway," replacing a sign from July that read "Final Phase Underway" in the same font, at the same location, roughly four feet away. Public Works staff say the new sign is correct and the old one has been removed.

Residents are advised to budget extra commute time through at least mid-September.