DICKEYVILLE, Wis. -- A bumpy stretch of U.S. 61/Wisconsin 35 between Dickeyville and Lancaster will receive a makeover in 2011.

The 17-mile section between the two communities took a beating during the brutal winter of 2007-08 and motorists made their feelings known to public officials and state Rep. Phil Garthwaite, D-Dickeyville. Garthwaite was able to get a $13 million repaving project included in the state budget that was approved earlier this year.

The project is expected to start in June 2011, with bids going out in March or April. Construction will start at Hickory Lane, just outside the Dickeyville village limits, pass through Potosi and Tennyson, and continue north to Alona Lane at Lancaster's city limits. Work includes putting down six inches of asphalt. Dave Lambert, Grant County Highway commissioner, said the project will work within the existing right-of-way.

"They are addressing the condition of the surface, eliminating the wakity-whack," he said.

Lambert said the project won't resemble the nearby Wisconsin 133 project between Cassville and the Grant County N intersection, which is total reconstruction and should conclude in late November.

The 61/35 project can't come any sooner.

"I've had people traveling on vacations tell me this is worst stretch ... in the nation -- between Dickeyville and Fennimore," said Lancaster Mayor Jerry Wehrle, who noted the state Department of Transportation reported a 20 percent increase in truck traffic on the roadway.

The U. S. 61 Lancaster-Fennimore portion is slated to be reconditioned in 2016.

"We generally don't get that many earmarks in the budget, but we got it this time," Lambert said.