MONTELLO - For the first time in nearly four months, all major travel routes to and from the city of Montello are open.

Both lanes of traffic along state Highway 23, the main east-west road through the community, reopened late Thursday. The highway had been closed since June 30.

The project had construction crews create new curves along Highway 23 from county Highway M to a mile past the Eighth Drive intersection in Montello, build a new bridge over Ox Creek, and construct a new cattle pass under Highway 23.

According to Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials, construction was delayed several times throughout the project.

"A fairly simple project took us much longer than we had anticipated," said Jeffrey Stewart, DOT design project manager. "We pushed back our start date due to significant flooding in the area in early June and then we had several extra days of excavating than we had originally anticipated."

The project was originally scheduled to be completed Aug. 29.

Seeing crews take down the detour signs Thursday was a relief to many area residents and business owners.

"It's been a rough summer for us," said Russ Rainey, owner of Johnson's Boats & Motors along Highway 23 in Montello.

Rainey estimated that he had lost more than $100,000 in revenue at his motorboat sales and repairs business throughout the summer. He cited both the flooding and construction.

"All customers west of here had a tough time getting here," he said. "The construction cut us off from the interstate."

While the recent construction did not close off the entire road through the city, it closed enough of it to cause motorists to detour as far north as Wautoma and as far south as Pardeeville.

"A simple trip across town took 30-plus minutes," said Shelley Freitag-Dufour, Montello Common Council member.

The Highway 23 construction is not the only detour residents had to deal with this summer. State Highway 22, the main north-south road through the city, was closed for several weeks in June because of flooding.

Additionally, the Dredge Bank Road, which was used as a detour for the Highway 22 closure, remains closed awaiting repairs. According to DOT officials, the increased traffic the road received in June and July deteriorated its structure and safety.

"It's been an unforgettable summer," said John Hoffmann, owner of Rendezvous Paddle & Sports.

According to Stewart, no DOT projects are scheduled in the city until 2010.

kkirkpatrick@capitalnewspapers.com

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