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Traffic flow through Highway 12 construction between Baraboo and Ho-Chunk Casino has been smooth, aside from a few tourist rushes on the weekends, Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials say.
But motorists traveling north toward Wisconsin Dells just before July 4 may have to find alternate routes, or pass through construction.
Because of rain delays, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation may amend its contract and allow the contractor to do Highway 12 road work on the days leading up to the holiday.
Though a final decision hasn't been made, the DOT may allow the contractor to work the Friday before July 4 — which falls on a Friday — as well as Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday just before the holiday.
"Fourth of July is a very, very strong time for Wisconsin Dells and we definitely see a spike in travel," said Melanie Platt-Gibson, marketing director for the Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau.
But Platt-Gibson said when July 4 falls on a Friday, Dells traffic normally doesn't see a spike until the day before — when road crews would be off.
The change isn't expected to cause major problems, said Sauk County Highway Commissioner Steve Muchow.
"I think what (the DOT has) recognized is a lot of people are avoiding the area so they haven't had the traffic buildups they thought they might have," Muchow said. "They're using different routes and they're staying away from the construction site."
If construction is allowed on the days before July 4, the DOT will keep an eye on traffic, DOT Consultant Project Manager Anne Wallace said in a construction update released Thursday. If DOT officials see traffic backups or safety concerns, the project will be shut down for the remainder of the week.

wiscnews.com

Gov. Jim Doyle speaks in front of supporters for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., won the Wisconsin primaries Tuesday, solidifying both of their leads in the race for the presidency.
Obama beat U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., 58 to 41 percent, according to polls with over 90 percent of wards reporting.
In several wards with polling locations on the UW-Madison campus, Obama won by a margin of five to one, winning by two to one in others, according to the Dane County Clerk’s office.
Gov. Jim Doyle, who endorsed Obama, spoke in front of a crowd of supporters Tuesday night in downtown Madison, and said the Wisconsin win was a turning point in the national campaign.
“We have changed the course of American history,” Doyle said.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz similarly said he hoped Wisconsin’s primary would represent a shift in the campaign. Female voters and more blue-collar voters, according to Cieslewicz, showed they were moving more towards Obama in the primary.
Cieslewicz, who first endorsed former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, said he hoped Edwards would endorse Obama to help unify the Democratic Party.
Clinton was in Ohio Tuesday evening, were she is currently leading in the latest SurveyUSA poll. In her speech to Youngstown, Ohio, residents Clinton said she was the only one in the campaign who was “ready to be commander in chief in a dangerous world.”
McCain defeated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee 55 to 37 percent. In his victory speech, McCain said Obama’s campaign was lacking ideas.
“I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change,” McCain said. McCain also won the Washington primary Tuesday.
The UW-Madison College Republicans also watched results Tuesday, though several said McCain was not their first choice for a nominee.
UW-Madison junior Lindsay Miller said she had a hard time finding a Republican candidate who she agreed with on every issue in the race. She said she supported former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney earlier in the race.

dailycardinal.com

Portage officials this week will make a decision on whether to adopt its alternate detour for the Highway 33 construction project depending on feedback from businesses.
Main Street Portage will survey business owners along Highway 33 (Cook Street) this week to build consensus on removing nine parking spaces. Removing the spaces around the Cook Street-Wisconsin Street intersection would allow the city to keep part of the intersection open during the six-month construction project.
The state Department of Transportation designed the detour blocking traffic from turning between Wisconsin and Cook. The detour routed drivers on Interstate 39 north to exit 89 to get onto Wisconsin Street and head south into downtown.
Removing the spaces would allow new turn lanes and easier traffic flow, prompting the DOT to allow the city to use its version of the detour. But it puts even more hardships on local businesses beyond shutting down the road.
“The city's position is we're not going to do the detour until the businesses have been contacted,” said Bob Redelings, Portage's director of public works/utilities manager. “That should be done this week.”
Those spaces were being targeted by some downtown businesses to orient customers for the construction period. Susan Weyh, who owns the HoopLa! store on Cook Street, said she had been planning to tell her summer customers to park on Wisconsin Street close to the construction zone and walk down the alley behind her shop.
With those spaces gone and no parking lot on her business's block, Weyh said it will be confusing to tell people how to get to HoopLa!.
“People from town will know where they are on the block. People who are traveling — it might be a little cumbersome for them,” Weyh said. “I just brought it up so it was at the top of their mind. I don't have a problem with the need for traffic flow. I understand the greater good.”
Weyh said she hoped the city would try to find parking to replace the eliminated spaces, such as renting out the former Hill Ford building.
Meanwhile, Main Street Portage is working on a reinvestment loan program to give downtown businesses a facelift once construction is complete. The group is trying to secure banks to offer low-interest loans for facade improvements downtown.
“Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be meeting with these financial institutions,” said Adam Brann, executive director of Main Street Portage. “We already have a bank on board and it's below the prime rate.”
Main Street Portage is spending about $3,500 in donations to shed the awning and cedar shake siding on its facade in an effort to show other businesses what can be done. That work, which restores The Mercantile's original exterior, is expected to be finished by the time construction kicks off in April.
“This might try to spur people to get involved,” Brann said. “Come October, let's get some new buildings.”

wiscnews.com

NPR.org, February 20, 2008 · Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won Wisconsin’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, extending his winning streak over his rival for the party’s presidential nomination, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Taken together with Hawaii, Obama now has 10 consecutive wins against Clinton, counting eight states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.
Exit polls showed that Obama continued to make inroads into Clinton’s base by splitting the vote among women, union households and households with less than $50,000 in annual income. He also managed a modest majority among white voters.
In his victory speech, Obama wasted no time before looking ahead to the next contests, to be held on March 4 in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Speaking from a Houston stage and holding a sample ballot, he told supporters that early voting in Texas had already begun and asked them to help him secure more delegates.
“Houston, I think we’ve achieved liftoff,” he said about his Wisconsin win.
On the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain easily defeated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Wisconsin’s presidential primary. McCain’s victory is likely to increase pressure on Huckabee to drop out of the race so that the Republican Party can unite behind a single candidate.
Huckabee has said he will remain in the race until either he or McCain secures the necessary delegates to win the GOP nomination. That would appear all but certain to happen on March 4.
In his victory speech Tuesday night, McCain focused on the general election campaign.
“I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure that Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change,” he said, referencing one of the central themes of the Obama campaign. In recent days, Obama — who is known for his inspirational speeches — has come under attack from both McCain and Clinton for the content of his speeches. On Monday, the Clinton campaign accused him of “plagiarism” for borrowing some of his rhetoric from other speakers.
Clinton did not deliver a concession speech at her campaign event in Youngstown, Ohio. Instead, she highlighted her own strengths as a candidate while also taking a swipe at Obama. At a rally, she told supporters that a presidential primary “is about picking a president who relies not just on words but on work — on hard work to get America back to work.”
Exit Polls: Economy as Key Issue for Voters
In presidential contests across the U.S., the economy has emerged as a top concern for voters, and the Wisconsin electorate was no exception. Exit polls there showed trade was also a key issue for the many working-class Democrats who voted. Seven in 10 voters said international trade has caused job losses in Wisconsin, while fewer than one in five voters said it created more jobs than it has eliminated.
Independents cast about one-quarter of the ballots in the Democratic race. Roughly 15 percent of the electorate said they were first-time voters.
On the Republican side, McCain received stronger support among moderate Republicans than among independents, a group that he has won easily in other contests. His rival Huckabee received more support among those who called themselves very conservative.
Wisconsin has long nurtured its tradition of an open primary, meaning voters could easily vote for candidates in either party. The state does not register voters by party, and new voters can even register at the polls on the day of the contest.
Democrats Look Toward March 4
With the Democratic race still tight, Wisconsin and its 74 Democratic delegates took on greater importance in the battle between Clinton and Obama. But the candidates could not focus all of their attention on Wisconsin— given the other upcoming primaries and the task of winning over the party’s superdelegates, who act as free agents and who can vote for any candidate regardless of the popular vote in their states.
During his campaign stops in Wisconsin, Obama talked mostly about the economy and tried to court the state’s white, working-class voters. He visited a General Motors assembly plant in Janesville, Wis., telling the workers, “We have greater income disparity in this country than we’ve seen since the first year of the Great Depression.”
Clinton’s campaign has always kept its focus on the upcoming primaries in the delegate-rich states of Ohio and Texas. The evening of the Feb. 12 “Potomac Primary” — in which she lost contests in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia to Obama — Clinton delivered her concession speech from El Paso, Texas, where she hoped to do well with the region’s large number of Hispanic voters. Clinton also began running ads in working-class Ohio, featuring images of a waitress working late, in which she expressed her sympathy for those who must work the “night shift.”
McCain Looks to November Election
On the Republican side, McCain has an impressive delegate lead over Huckabee and is largely perceived as the party’s inevitable nominee. His campaign rhetoric during the past week has reflected this presumptive status: He has focused his attacks on his potential Democratic opponents, with an eye toward the general election, rather than on Huckabee, his chief remaining Republican rival.
McCain received two key endorsements recently. On President Day, former President George H.W. Bush threw his support behind McCain and urged other Republicans to do the same. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who dropped out of the GOP presidential race earlier this month, asked his pledged delegates to vote for McCain.
Still, McCain has yet to fully win over his fellow conservative Republicans, who tend to view him as a renegade for breaking party rank over issues such as immigration.
From NPR reports and the Associated Press

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