TOWN OF DEKORRA - The next time Paul Bixler returns from a trip to northern Wisconsin, one of his regular stops will be considerably more comfortable.

There will be more parking, more space to stretch his legs and, most importantly, more toilets and urinals.

Just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend, the state Department of Transportation on Wednesday will open a gleaming facility at the state's busiest rest stop, along the southbound lanes of Interstate 39-90-94 just south of the Wisconsin River in Columbia County.

"It's well used," said Bixler, 72, a deer hunter who returned home Monday from Polk County to his home in Burlington in southeastern Wisconsin, stopping at the existing rest area. "They need to upgrade and make it larger. A lot of people go through here."

The $22 million project, 90 percent of which was paid for with federal funds, includes an almost identical rest stop on the opposite side of the Interstate and is five months ahead of schedule. The new facility for the northbound side will open in mid-December but landscaping, parking lot improvements and other finishing touches won't be finished until next year for both locations.

The expansion project, under the eye of general contractor Michels Corp. of Brownsville, makes each rest area about three times larger than the existing facilities, which opened in 1979. It will eliminate the need for portable toilets to be set up from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend to supplement the indoor rest rooms.

"They're just way too small to handle the traffic we have in summer peaks," Dave Simon, a roadside facilities engineer for the DOT said of the existing facilities. "These are the largest rest areas we have in the state."

Almost 54,000 vehicles pass by the rest areas each day, and each facility gets about 1,500 visitors a day. In 20 years, those numbers are expected to increase by 35 percent, which is why the new prairie-style facilities have been built larger than what is now needed, Simon said.

The project's cost also includes $3 million that was used to help the town of Dekorra construct a $5.5 million waste water treatment plant. The two rest areas, each with an 8,800-square-foot building, are the town's biggest customers.

"It's a win for the environment and a win for the state and the town," Simon said. "The rest area is really one big bathroom facility."

And the treatment plant, which began operating in the fall of 2007, could help spur development at the Highway CS interchange.

Jerry Foellmi, president of Portage-based General Engineering, said the town had been considering its waste water treatment options since the 1990s. The new plant, on 20 acres of land just north of the southbound rest area, has a 124,000-gallon capacity but is operating at 20,000 to 30,000 gallons a day. The plant was built for possible expansion.

The first rest area at the location was opened in 1961 with a urinal and a toilet for men and two toilets for women. In 1979, it was upgraded to eight toilets for women and four toilets and four urinals for men in 1,700-square-foot buildings. The new facilities each has 24 toilets for women, nine urinals and nine toilets for men and four unisex bathrooms designed for families.

The new facilities also feature more indoor lobby space with seating, vending machines, picnic shelters and tables, sitting walls and almost 40 acres on which to take a walk.

Parking for both cars and trucks has also increased greatly. Tim Verhage, who is overseeing the project for the Mead & Hunt consulting firm of Madison, said parking for cars has been increased to 190 from 56 for the southbound facility and to 138 for the northbound facility. Truck parking has increased to 68 for the southbound and 63 for the northbound, from 25 at the existing facilities.

"Come here at 3 or 4 in the morning and it's jammed packed," Verhage said of the truck parking. "They're parked everywhere. This is what truckers need. A safe place to pull over."

Simon said the public rest areas provide convenient and safe ways to change drivers, use the rest room, check loads and rest.

"That question has been studied in all 50 states and all 50 states have rest areas," Simon said. "They are needed."

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