Hawley Road Will Close, Won’t Reopen Until 2028

Closure map. Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).

A segment of N. Hawley Rd. will be closed Monday for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation‘s (WisDOT) massive Interstate 94 expansion project, and it won’t reopen until 2028.

The road will be closed underneath the interstate, cutting off a major north-south artery running along the western edge of American Family Field, the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Building and Calvary Cemetery. WisDOT is detouring traffic eastward along W. National Avenue to Wisconsin Highway 175.

The road will remain closed until late 2028 as the state works on the “West Leg” of the project stretching from Zablocki Drive, just west of American Family Field, to N. 70th Street. WisDOT broke ground on the project in October.

The $1.74 billion expansion project will expand the freeway’s lanes from six to eight, and construction will eventually include rebuilding the aging freeway between N. 16th and N. 70th streets and completely replacing the Stadium Freeway Interchange.

For now, the Stadium Freeway Interchange will handle detour traffic from the Hawley Road closure. While the road is closed, construction crews managed by Zignego Company will replace the Hawley Interchange with a “half interchange,” eliminating ramps to and from the east, and reconstruct the 68th/70th Street Interchange.

The second phase of construction on the “East Leg” will begin in 2028. But before then, WisDOT will replace the 27th Street Bridge spanning the Menomonee Valley. The bridge will be closed beginning in spring 2026 for replacement, and work will finish before crews start construction on the freeway beneath.

More information on the freeway project is available on WisDOT’s I-94 East-West project website.