Leaders celebrate the — near — completion of La Crosse’s south side roundabout projects

They didn’t have to stop traffic on a busy La Crosse street Monday to celebrate completion of road improvements that took several months.

A ribbon cutting took place in front of one of the many new roundabouts La Crosse has gotten over the past year. The ceremony took place in front of the Hmong Cultural Center, where executive director, Mo Yang, was happy to see the road improvements.

“The intersection here was always dangerous to me, in my opinion,” Yang told an audience at the ceremony. “So when I found out that we were doing a roundabout, I was very happy because I think that will greatly improve the safety and just the free-flowing of the intersection here.”

The $16 million project covered the cost of utility installation, replacing pavement dating back nearly 50 years and of course, all those roundabouts.

There’s still a little finishing work to be done this week, according to La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds. He said improvements will not just help the people who travel on South Avenue, but also those who cross it.

“Let’s be frank,” Reynolds said. “Whenever you’ve got four lanes of highway, it’s harder for pedestrians and bicycles to get across. It just is. But, to the extent that we were able to maximize improvements on this corridor so we could improve that, that has been done.”

The Wisconsin DOT rebuilt a mile of Highway 14 extending from West Avenue to Ward and installed three roundabouts at intersections on South Avenue.

Two more roundabouts were installed at the very south side of La Crosse, in a project that cost an estimated $8.8 million.