City of Delafield - A noon traffic jam at the interchange of Interstate 94 and Highway 83 extended nearly two miles east to near the Highway SS interchange as Sunday motorist discovered the interstate is still closed because of concerns about high water and bridge stability in Jefferson County.
It appeared that motorist traveling west bound from Milwaukee received no road warning of the interstate closure until they were west of the Highway SS interchange; too late to get off the expressway and use alternate routes before reaching the congested Highway 83 interchange.
Vehicles were sometimes almost bumper to bumper when the traffic was reduced to a near crawl as motorist manuevered into lanes that channeled them onto the expressway exit ramp.
At one point, the traffic jam became more severe because of emergency vehicles tending to an accident near the intersection of the ramp and Highway 83. The accident contributed to additional traffic jams at the nearby intersection of Golf Road and Highway 83.
Since Friday afternoon interstate traffic to Oconomowoc, Madison and other points west has been detoured from Interstate 94 south on Highway 83 ,southwest on Interstate 43, to the Interstate 90 interchange at Beloit, and then north on I-90 to I-94 at Madison.
The interstate was closed at Highway 26 near Johnson Creek earlier in the week and motorist were being detoured to Highway B in Jefferson County.
However, Highway B became impassable because of high water on Friday and state officials decided to shut down the I-94 at Highway 83 in order to provide motorist with a detour to Madison.
Alternative east west routes between Delafield and Madison could not be used because they were also closed as a result of high water and concerns about bridge stability.