A sign of the season: United States Capitol Christmas Tree will travel through Wisconsin next week

WISCONSIN (WITI) -- The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree will travel on Wisconsin highways next week as it makes its way to Washington, D.C. and the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

Getting the huge 88-foot white spruce from northern Minnesota through 400 miles of Wisconsin roads is all in a day’s work for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

“People don’t normally think about all the logistics that go into highway design or the details that go into accommodating unique oversized loads. WisDOT has a team of professionals who keep in mind our current freight needs as they work out the challenges of these exceptional loads,” said Gary Ishmael, permit supervisor.

“The People’s Tree,” as this special tree is called, was cut in Minnesota on October 29th and began its 2,000 mile journey.

On Monday, November 10th, it will continue down Wisconsin’s I-94. Only two stops are planned in Wisconsin among the tree’s 33 stops en route. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison will host the tree from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The next day it will travel to Milwaukee for a stop on Tuesday, November 11th, at Community Spirit Park (Cathedral Square) in Milwaukee from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

On any of the 68,000 over-sized load permits the department issues each year, WisDOT routinely works with trucking companies, local governments and law enforcement agencies throughout the state.

The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree has a number of ways to track it through Wisconsin and the country:

Webpage: http://www.capitolchristmastree.com/
Twitter page: https://twitter.com/USCapitolTree
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/USCapitolTree