Finally, some road construction we look forward to

La Crosse’s road construction season remains in full swing. The orange barrels are seemingly everywhere, on Main Street, Jackson, Copeland and more. It can be frustrating to delayed drivers having to navigate through all the slowdowns and detours. But drivers are likely excited to hear that next year, another major La Crosse thoroughfare will be torn up for repairs. After much delay, the state Department of Transportation is finally prepping to redo La Crosse Street in 2022.  The pothole-filled road has been in need of repair for years. It was last redone in the 1980s. The state wasn’t planning to rebuild the road until 2025, but agreed to move the project up on its schedule. About time. The road is a link between two major north-south corridors. It goes past the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. It shares a name with the city. It shouldn’t have taken this long to fix a road so badly in need of repair. Politicians have long pledged to make fixing it a priority. Former Mayor Tim Kabat tried to put the city in charge of fixing the state highway, but the DOT shut that down. Yesterday the city started talking about how detours will be arranged when the work is done next year. This has been a long time coming. Too long. But now, even though it means more torn up roads and detours, we are excited that finally, La Crosse Street will soon be driveable again.