Crews in 2026 will start on improvements to two major interchanges along Interstate 41 in Appleton as work continues to expand the interstate to six lanes between Grand Chute and De Pere.
Work will also continue on the interstate itself, and several under and overpasses in the area will experience closures, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s I-41 project’s website.
Here’s what to know.
State 47/Richmond Street overpass to close this spring
If you’re shopping at Meijer, climbing at Odyssey Climbing + Fitness or craving dinner at Holidays Pub & Grill but live south of the interstate, a detour via North Meade Street in Appleton or North Lynndale Drive in Grand Chute is in your future.
Crews are expected to start transforming the Richmond Street/I-41 interchange into the region’s fourth diverging diamond starting in spring, and much like Ballard Road in 2025, it will be closed until fall.
A diverging diamond interchange moves traffic to the opposite side of the road, eliminating the need for drivers to make left turns in front of oncoming traffic. According to WisDOT, a diverging diamond reduces the number of ways vehicles could collide, from 26 possible points in a traditional diamond interchange to 14. It also allows for higher traffic volumes.
State 441 interchange construction to run 2026 to 2029
Three miles to the east, crews will also get started on the system interchange that links I-41 with the north end of State 441 and grants easy access to the eastern Fox Cities to travelers and commuters.
One of the more complicated improvements on the docket for the I-41 project, construction for this interchange on the border between Appleton and Little Chute is expected to take about three years to complete.
At present, southbound drivers from I-41 headed on to 441 southbound use a cloverleaf-style exit, with drivers headed north on 441 then south on I-41 looping around the outside of said cloverleaf.
The new design calls for flyover ramps. For southbound 441 traffic, a new ramp will start east of French Road on I-41 and take drivers on a smoother curve as they sail above the rest of the interchange. Northbound 441 traffic headed south on I-41 will also see a new structure with a softer curve as they pass under the flyover, but over the interstate, according to an illustration posted by WisDOT.
Northbound 441 traffic headed north on I-41 and northbound I-41 traffic headed south on 441 will behave much as it does now, though those headed south on 441 will have the option of getting directly on the highway or choosing an auxiliary lane which grants access to East Northland Avenue without needing to merge with drivers who are just passing through.
Driver impacts will start with a one-month closure of the northbound 441 ramp to I-41 in spring 2026.
Gillett Street, French Road and Buchanan Street to see work at crossing with interstate
Gillett Street passes under I-41 in Grand Chute, just west of Richmond Street. While construction is slated for spring 2026 to fall 2027 as work progresses on the interstate mainline above it, Gillett will see short-term closures from spring 2026 to fall 2026.
French Road in Little Chute, just east of 441, is getting a new overpass over the interstate, and it will be closed from spring 2026 to fall 2026.
Buchanan Street, also in Little Chute, will also close from spring 2026 to fall 2026, with work expected to take five months.
Fortunately, drivers in the area will be able to cross the interstate using Holland Road, Vandenbroek Road, Rose Hill Road or Freedom Road/Outagamie County N overpasses, all of which were reconstructed during earlier phases of this project.
Interstate 41 mainline work continues to creep east
Mainline work underway between Wisconsin Avenue and Lynndale Drive in Grand Chute is expected to wrap up by fall 2026, and mainline work between Lynndale and Holland Road in Little Chute will start and continue through to 2029.
Drivers on the Lynndale-to-Holland segment will see even more new lanes once work is done. In addition to the base expansion from four lanes to six, auxiliary lanes will be added between Northland and Ballard, and a collector-distributor road will be added between Ballard and 441.
Auxiliary lanes are just a fourth lane of traffic between two near-by exits, allowing local traffic to use the interstate without having to merge, and giving those who do need to merge more time to do so. The project also expects to add auxiliary lanes between State 55 and Outagamie County J in Kaukuana and between Southbridge and Scheuring roads in De Pere.
Collector-distributor roads, meanwhile, move the merging lanes away from the interstate itself, asking drivers to choose sooner if they plan to exit.
An example of this sort of lane can be found on the northbound I-41 lanes in Ashwaubenon, between exit 164A for Brown County AAA/Oneida Street/Waube Lane and exit 164B for State 172/Austin Straubel Airport. Traffic diverges from the interstate mainline to take either of those exits, and can return to the interstate if they do not exit. Meanwhile, drivers entering from Oneida Street only have to merge with traffic in the collector-distributor road and then can choose to either take exit 164B or merge on to I-41.
What else should I know about the I-41 project?
Construction on the entire I-41 expansion project began in 2024 and is expected to complete in 2030.
Further west, 2026 will also see ongoing work on the I-41 mainline between Outagamie County JJ and Miners Way, which started in this year and is expected to run through fall 2027, ongoing work on the Outagamie County U interchange near Wrightstown, and ongoing work on the Southbridge Road interchange, which started in 2024 and is expected to wrap in fall 2026.
WisDOT is maintaining a project website at i41project.wisconsindot.gov, and posting updates on the Facebook page facebook.com/I41projectWI/.
Taima Kern is editor of the Appleton Post-Crescent, and business editor for the Post-Crescent and the Green Bay Press Gazette. Reach her at tkern@usatodayco.com or 920-907-7819. Follow her on X (Twitter) @TaimaKern.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Interstate 41 to see closed exit, mainline, interchange work in 2026
Reporting by Taima Kern, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
