SPOONER - Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a $17 million contract to improve 12 miles of U.S. Highway 53 south of Spooner.

The approval was announced Wednesday. The project, slated to begin next fall, will involve concrete replacement and new bridge deck overlays on Highway 53 between U.S. Highway 8 and 26th Avenue, or about from Cameron to Haugen.

The work will affect northbound and southbound lanes; the normally four-lane divided highway will be reduced to two-way traffic during construction.