Just when you thought it was safe to head into Wisconsin

Escaping to Wisconsin this season likely will take more time and patience than usual.

Just as weary Illinois travelers ache for the end of the massive north Tri-State Tollway widening project, our neighbors to the north are about to unleash the largest road project in Wisconsin history.

Unfortunately, for vacationers heading north to the great outdoors and for commuters who cross the state line, the Wisconsin work is targeted for the same road, and at the same time.

"It will be something for motorists to get used to for sure," said Emlynn Grisar, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

"We're going to really work with tourism (agencies) to get people moving and where they need to be."

Plans to rebuild and widen I-94 to four lanes in each direction from the Illinois state line to Milwaukee have been in the works for years.

The road through the 35-mile corridor, considered a primary route between Chicago and Milwaukee and for suburbanites on the way to Door County, has reached the end of its useful life, Wisconsin officials determined.

After a lengthy analysis and more than 500 meetings and presentations, the schedule was set for the $1.9 billion plan.

The original timeline called for work to begin this year on frontage roads in Kenosha County with work on the main highway slated for 2011. That has been accelerated because of an influx of federal stimulus money.

"You'll see impacts this summer on the mainline from Highway 50 (Kenosha) south" to the state line, Grisar said.

Traffic will be reduced to two lanes in each direction, likely starting in May.

"For Chicago travelers, I still recommend they stay on 94, drive at off-peak times or leave a few hours earlier. Wisconsin is still open for business," Grisar said.

A Web site, plan94.org, is scheduled to launch this week.

Business and tourism groups have known the work was coming, but are scrambling for details of the timing shift.

"We didn't know it was going to be this bad this soon," said Maureen Riedy, president of the Lake County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The bureau estimates that about one-fourth of the visitors to major attractions in northern Illinois, such as Gurnee Mills, Key Lime Cove water park and Six Flags Great America, come from Wisconsin.

"We do draw a lot from Wisconsin (and) consider Milwaukee a core market as well. We will definitely be in communication with our guests," said Brooke Gabbert, public relations manager for Six Flags in Gurnee.

The Illinois Toll Highway Authority also knows what's in store and will be coordinating with Wisconsin on traffic management.

"We're going to do what we can to prepare motorists heading north into Wisconsin," said Joelle McGinnis, tollway spokesperson.

Message boards could be posted as far south as I-90.

"When you get here, that makes it a bit more sweet," reasoned Jon Jarosh, director of communications for the Door County Visitors Bureau.

Getting to that vacation getaway will be tough but not nearly as bad as having to deal with it every day.

Flo Howard, a Kenosha resident, drives the Pace van that takes her and four passengers to their jobs at Baxter International in Deerfield.

Assuming the Kenosha to Illinois stretch takes two years, Howard and her crew will have had to navigate major highway construction for five consecutive years.

"We're going to have to start even earlier than 6 (in the morning) and it will be a heckuva commute coming home," she said.

Howard said it's much more stressful being the driver instead of a passenger.

"We take two steps forward and take another step back," she said of the end of the Tri-State work and beginning of I-94 construction. "It's kind of a no-win situation."

Widening the Tri-State from O'Hare International Airport north to near the state line is a few miles longer than the Wisconsin plan.

The $2.3 billion cost reflects the complexity of a job that will see the reconstruction of 40 bridges, two toll plazas and 12 interchanges.

One section, between Grand Avenue and Route 173, is complete with four lanes open in each direction.

Construction has passed the halfway point but there is a plenty to keep motorists on guard this season.

Work has been shifted to the northbound lanes between Grand Avenue and Dempster Street and to the southbound lanes between Dempster Street and Balmoral Avenue.

Work to replace 13 bridges over the tollway continues with corresponding lane reductions to main routes including Milwaukee Avenue, Half Day Road (Route 22), Townline Road (Route 60), Rockland Road (Route 176), O'Plaine Road, Washington Street and Grand Avenue.

A major consideration for Gurnee area drivers is that the ramp carrying southbound drivers to eastbound Grand Avenue is closed through late summer. Milwaukee Avenue is the detour.

When complete after this construction season, there will be four lanes in each direction from Indiana to Wisconsin. Almost.

In anticipation of Wisconsin's work, the tollway extended the scope of its project to include widening up to Route 173.

North of that, however, remains three lanes, a section under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Department of Transportation. The tollway rebuilt one section north of Route 173 and resurfaced another. IDOT will reimburse that $3.6 million cost.

The state agency expects to spend $500,000 this year for engineering but there is nothing in the five-year plan for widening the stretch north of Route 173, which could become a classic bottleneck once all is said and done.

"We're going to take a look at how much it could take to deal with that," said Steve Mastny, area programmer for IDOT.