The construction of a new Marquette interchange system has become more of an issue than the Department of Transportation thought it would be.

The project, a major overhaul of the sprawling Marquette roadway interchange in Milwaukee, is a state-funded project. It will take four years to accomplish and it aims to create a much safer system for commuters than the current interchange.

“The structures themselves have gotten old and deterioration has been going on,” said Brian Manthey, communications officer for the DOT. “When it was first built, it was built for 150,000 vehicles a day and right now it’s hauling 300,000.”

Among the changes are the reconstruction of the freeway lanes and bridges and the removal of all left-hand exits. The ramps themselves will have more of a curve, which will allow for more-consistent speeds.

According to Manthey, there will be fewer speed increases and decreases in order to prevent accidents.

The duration and breadth of the project leads many drivers to believe it will be a great inconvenience. The DOT, seeing that the public might be aggravated, contracted a company to create and maintain a website that will help drivers navigate through the construction.

However, the website has become an area of contention, too, due to the $685,000 price tag it carries for taxpayers.

The Citizens Allied for Sane Highways (CASH) are among the most outspoken opponents of the website. They believe the massive reconstruction of the Marquette interchange is unnecessary and that the website is a frivolous waste of money.

“We know the interchange had to be reconstructed, but we think they are making it way too big and spending way too much money on it and the website,” Gretchen Schuldt, CASH co-chair, said. “It could have been done for less and accomplish what it needed to accomplish.”

Manthey, however, said he believes the website was an absolute necessity as it allows visitors to see what the construction process will be like and gives them live information about traffic delays.

“The idea was to invest money in this as this allows users of the interchange, during the construction, to access the info when they need to access it,” Manthey added. “The most efficient way to spend money is for public information.”

Schultz and other CASH members are angered the DOT gave the website creators — HNTB — the intellectual property rights to the codes and applications. They believe HNTB will profit from this contract for many years to come.

CASH members see a correlation between donations HNTB gave to Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle’s campaign and their favorable treatment in the bidding process. The DOT, however, claims that is “ridiculous,” as the bidding process started several years ago, before Doyle was elected to office.

Despite CASH’s objections, Manthey says the website has received excellent feedback.

“We’ve had great response on it,” Manthey said. “People are saying that they can access it any time of the day or night wherever they are. You can’t do that with over-the-air media. Our [No. 1] tool of reaching the most people the most effectively is the website.”