Archives for September 2025

APPLETON — Bob Ritter had no problem agreeing to be the face of WTBA’s newest work zone safety campaign.

He didn’t hesitate when asked if we could plaster a picture of him and sons, Jayden (6) and Elias (6 months), on a 48-foot-wide billboard along I-41 near Appleton.  Then, he realized, he should make a call first.

“I had to get permission from my wife,” Ritter laughed.

Thankfully, Amber Ritter was on board, too.

Tuesday, WTBA, WisDOT and law enforcement partners thanked the Ritters for their efforts while urging drivers to travel carefully through work zones.  The message was part of the Northeast Region’s Work Zone Safety Event, which was the final of six throughout the 2025 season.

“I can’t imagine them not having a dad to come home to at the end of the day in school,” Ritter told several reporters at the news conference.  “I think that’s one of the biggest reasons I’m out here doing this.”

WTBA developed the billboard idea this spring, took pictures with Ritter and his kids at the Northland Avenue interchange in June, and sent the art to print in July.

“It’s impossible to know if our billboards have been a success, but I have to believe seeing this young family has to get somebody, at least one person, to slow down, put the phone down and pay attention,” WTBA Director of Communications Lane Kimble said.  “For them, it’s not just a nice message; they’re real people with real livest’s their stories at stake.”

The event marks the end of the third straight year WTBA and WisDOT have partnered to expand work zone safety messaging from one week in April to six months throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Last year, 10 people died and more than 750 people were injured in work zone crashes in Wisconsin. Two WTBA-member employees were among those killed in crashes.

“If we can even change a couple of minds to get off their phones, and pay a little more attention, and all our coworkers and brothers and sisters can get home at the end of the night, I think it’s great,” Ritter said.

Two weeks after removing 3M striping tape from its Approved Products List, WisDOT is issuing updated guidance, giving contractors several options.

For projects let prior to September 2025, contractors can:

• Continue to use previously approved permanent 3M tape if they can provide documentation (including batch numbers) showing the permanent tape was manufactured to match the contract’s APL
• File a change order for marking line grooved wet reflective epoxy and use that instead of tape
• Consider a change order if contractor has unapproved new formula 3M tape and is charged a restocking fee (must provide documentation)
• Similar rules apply for temporary removable tape

You can read and print the entire updated guidance HERE.

Background

3M sent the Department an email on June 27, 2025 stating that 3M reformulated its tape products to remove intentionally added PFAS. This change affects all of 3M’s permanent tapes and some removable tapes.

This is in violation of the WisDOT APL requirements due to no National Transportation Product Evaluation Program testing being completed.

Therefore, all permanent and removable 3M tapes are being removed from WisDOT’s APL. This is effective with any tape having a manufacture date after July 1, 2025.

For projects beginning with the October 2025 letting, grooved wet reflective epoxy will be used instead of grooved permanent tape.

Contact WTBA Director of Engineering Matt Grove at mgrove@wtba.org if you have any questions.

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. — There will be a literal sense of accomplishment when the Highway 15/Northland Avenue diverging diamond interchange near Appleton opens to traffic on Monday.

Maybe it’s a “scent” of accomplishment, too.

“I love the smell of cure,” Zach Dittberner admitted.  “It’s just a weird tick, but I really like that smell.  Something to do with the concrete going down.  It smells sweet.”

Dittberner–the Michels Road & Stone general manager of concrete paving–has had ample opportunity to take in that aroma while overseeing the multi-season conversion of the interchange into the Fox Valley’s newest DDI.

Michels crews are putting down about 100,000 cubic yards on this project alone.

“A typical road, you just have two or four lanes going straight through an intersection.  This one, you’re criss crossing,” Dittberner said. “So it makes it a little more challenging, a little more handwork, but in the end, I have seen it, I do believe (diverging diamonds are) a lot safer and traffic flows a lot better.”

The Northland Avenue DDI should help with that.  WisDOT says the interchanges reduce the number of potential crash points by 50% while allowing traffic to merge onto the interstate without having to wait to turn left.

WTBA toured the work this summer, a couple months after the overpass closed for work.

“We just want to get the project done, get out of here and open this thing up so people can travel to Green Bay, maybe enjoy some Packer games and get home quicker,” Dittberner said.

Michels still needs to finish off the southbound on and off ramps before work on this $27 million project is done.  That’s not to mention their role in the overall expansion of 23 miles of I-41 from Appleton to De Pere, which includes plenty of mainline work.

So expect to see Dittberner juggling a lot of work here in the coming weeks and years, pausing only briefly from time to time to take in that “sweet” smell of success.

“It’s like putting a puzzle together, right?  You get parts where you’re enjoying it and it’s going great and then you’ve got parts where you can’t find the piece and you’re really struggling.  This project’s no different,” Dittberner said.

“So when I smell that cure, it’s kind of that final step once you’ve got it on.  It’s that sense that you’ve finally gotten somewhere.”