"That is a street that we, in no way, could do on our own in one year," City Administrator Eddie Sheppard said of West Green Bay Street when the Shawano Common Council got its first look at the city's next capital improvement plan. The comment came up in a discussion about money. It also explains how Shawano's next two years of road work are being scheduled. The goal is to finish each project in a single season, and the smaller jobs are lined up so that town keeps moving while the two big streets are torn up.
The clearest sign of that is a $70,000 line item most people will scroll past.
The Alley Money Is Really About 2028
The proposed plan would have public works rebuild the downtown business-district alleys in 2027. As NEW Media reported on Sept. 28, the reason given was that officials expect the alleys to get heavy use once Main Street is under construction in 2028.
So the city is fixing the back way before it closes the front way. The Main Street work is a Wisconsin Department of Transportation project, done in cooperation with the city, and WisDOT's proposed staging explains why the alleys matter. The first stage would close Main Street from Zingler Avenue to Green Bay Street. Side roads in that stretch would be closed to through traffic but stay open to residents and businesses inside the project limits. With the main street closed, deliveries, employee parking, and the last block of a trip to a downtown shop all shift to whatever routes stay open behind the storefronts.
The alley budget is the city's answer to that, and it was planned a full year ahead.
What WisDOT Plans to Close, and What Stays Open
The project covers 1.0 mile of WIS 22, which is Main Street from Zingler Avenue to Green Bay Street, and 0.26 miles of WIS 47/55, which is Main Street from Green Bay Street to the bridge over the Shawano Lake outlet channel. WisDOT is treating the two pieces very differently.
| Segment | Proposed traffic handling |
|---|---|
| WIS 22, Zingler Ave to Green Bay St | Full closure. Through traffic detours to WIS 29 east, then WIS 47/55 north back to WIS 22 |
| Lieg Ave and Division St crossings | Staged to stay open for east-west traffic, at times on gravel |
| Other side streets in the closed stretch | Closed to through traffic, open to residents and businesses inside the project limits |
| Green Bay St and Division St | Lane closures on each, scheduled so they don't happen at the same time |
| WIS 47/55, Green Bay St to 5th St | Built in halves, one lane each direction kept open |
| WIS 47/55, 5th St to Shawano Creek bridge | One lane controlled by temporary traffic signals |
The table shows why the two east-west crossings matter so much. While the long stretch of Main Street south of Green Bay Street is closed, Lieg Avenue and Division Street are the planned ways to get across it. North of Green Bay Street toward the channel, Main Street stays drivable, just narrower, and down to one signal-controlled lane near the bridge.
The city's own 2028 list includes repaving Lieg Avenue. The sources don't say how that job will be timed around Main Street, so the order is worth watching once the 2028 schedules come out.
The Detour Runs Over WIS 29
WisDOT's proposed detour sends Main Street through traffic out to WIS 29, east to WIS 47/55, and north back to WIS 22. That puts the highway in the middle of the plan.
WIS 29 has had its own work season in 2026. WisDOT named Vinton Construction prime contractor on a $10.7 million WIS 29 improvement between County M and South Highline Road, with completion set for Oct. 20, 2026, weather permitting. The state's 511 listing gave the same April 13 to Oct. 20 window and described concrete grinding and shoulder paving, with traffic using the inside lanes. If the weather holds, that work should wrap up a little more than two weeks from now. Check 511 before relying on that date for a trip.
The sources don't tie the WIS 29 project to the Main Street detour. Still, as of this fall, the highway being offered as Shawano's 2028 bypass will be coming off a season of its own work.
West Green Bay Street Goes First, and the Numbers Don't Fully Match
Under the proposed plan, West Green Bay Street from Main to Bartlett gets rebuilt in 2027, a year before Main Street. The work covers design, street construction, and utility construction, at an estimated cost of more than $2.5 million. Here is the rest of Sheppard's comment:
"That would probably be a three- or four-year project. The last thing we want to is interrupt West Green Bay Street for multiple years, going back and forth, so this is a huge gift for us."
The funding split depends on which source you read. The Sept. 28 CIP story put the city's cost at $72,000 for design and $457,943 for reconstruction, and said the other 80% comes from grants. In a July 9 TCH Daily News report, Sheppard described the same street as "70% state funded, 30% city funded." That 70/30 split matches a May 2025 report from the city engineer. That report said WisDOT approved a change request adding funding, the city agreed to raise its share from 20% to 30%, and the block between the Wolf River bridge and Bartlett Street was dropped from the project. So the western end may stop short of Bartlett, even though the most recent news coverage still describes it as running Main to Bartlett. The sources reviewed for this post don't settle the difference.
Main Street costs the city much less. The proposed plan budgets $135,000 for design in 2027 and $220,000 for street construction in 2028. Across all the road work in the two-year plan, Sheppard put the total at about $7.3 million, with the city paying about $3.4 million.
What the Main Street Project Includes, and What It Leaves Out
The NEW Media story calls Main Street a reconstruction. WisDOT's own materials describe something narrower:
- Removing and replacing the asphalt in the travel lanes of Main Street and the intersections that meet it
- Milling and resurfacing the existing parking and shoulder lanes
- Upgrading the traffic signals at Lieg Avenue
- Replacing the traffic signals at Division Street and Green Bay Street
- Rebuilding pedestrian curb ramps that don't meet ADA requirements
- Repairing curb and gutter in spots
The public materials don't mention a roundabout, a lane reconfiguration, or a downtown streetscape redesign. The typical cross-sections WisDOT presented show two 12-foot travel lanes with parking or shoulder areas beside them. Those drawings are typical sections, not a final design.
The curb ramps account for the project's property needs. WisDOT says it will need permanent and temporary real estate at intersection corners to build them. The Common Council has already approved a $65,500 proposal from CORRE for real estate services on the 2028 Main Street pavement and curb ramp project. If you own a corner lot on Main Street between Zingler Avenue and the channel, expect contact about those ramps well before construction starts.
The Rest of the 2027 and 2028 Street List
The two big corridors aren't the only work. The proposed plan also schedules:
2027: extending Willow Wood Drive at an estimated $300,000, repaving Madison Way, Industrial Drive, and Eberlein Park Drive, and reconstructing Smalley Street and the downtown alleys.
2028: reconstructing Maiden Lane and Hamlin, Union, and Maurer streets, plus repaving Arlington Street, North Franklin Street, Teddington Lane, Pickadilly Circle, and Lieg Avenue.
Public works also plans to rebuild the traffic signals at Fairview Way and Lincoln Street. On the parks side, the plan includes a lift and chair for the pool at the Shawano Recreation Center, a replacement trail at Kuckuk Park, a master plan for a park in southeast Shawano, ball diamond repairs, and ADA connectivity work at Memorial Park. The parks items total an estimated $367,000.
All of this is still a proposal. As of the Sept. 28 report, the roughly $4.7 million two-year plan was headed for Common Council approval later this year. Sheppard said a few items might be trimmed or pushed back, because the city plans to borrow only $4.6 million short-term for capital projects.
Dates to Hold On To
- Oct. 20, 2026: scheduled finish of the WIS 29 County M to South Highline Road project, weather permitting.
- Later in 2026: expected Common Council vote on the 2027 to 2028 capital plan.
- 2027: West Green Bay Street reconstruction and the downtown alley rebuild, as proposed.
- Fall 2027: WisDOT's target for finishing the Main Street design.
- 2028: Main Street construction from Zingler Avenue to the Shawano Creek bridge.
The current WisDOT project manager is Stacy Hagenbucher in the department's Rhinelander office, reachable at (715) 365-5770. Updates are posted on WisDOT's WIS 22 and WIS 47/55 project page. Downtown business owners can also look into the department's In This Together program for businesses in work zones.
If you own a home or building along Main Street or West Green Bay Street and are thinking about selling sometime in the next few years, the construction calendar is worth factoring into your timing, because buyers will ask about it. Jim Liesner can go over how the 2027 and 2028 work lines up with your plans. Request a free home valuation or schedule a free consultation.
