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The Wisconsin Department of Transportation plans to finish in 2010 studying options to accommodate projected traffic increases along Highway 50 from Interstate 43 to Highway 67.
The department is studying five options, and some would force homeowners or businesses to move.
The options are:
-- Do nothing.
-- Add two lanes north of the existing road, plus signals or roundabouts.
-- Add two lanes south of the existing road, plus signals or roundabouts.
-- Add one lane north and one lane south of the existing road, plus signals or roundabouts.
-- Add lanes to the north or the south or both in segments throughout the project, plus signals or roundabouts.
The department will keep refining alternatives. Another public information session is planned in October.
To follow the study, visit www.dot.wisconsin.gov. Click on "Plans & Projects." Click on the Walworth County link and scroll down to the Highway 50 study.
For more information, call Beth Blum, project manager, at (262) 548-8644 or e-mail beth.blum@dot.state.wi.us. Or call Patrick Allen, project manager with AECOM, at (414) 578-6224 or e-mail patrick.allen@aecom.com.
DELAVAN — Imagine a stretch of Highway 50 as a worm in biology class.
The classroom Wednesday night was the commons at Delavan-Darien High School. It was filled with visual aides depicting every angle of Highway 50 between Interstate 43 and Highway 67.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has cut the highway into four segments as it studies ways to accommodate projected traffic growth. Residents and business owners streamed through the commons looking at maps and cross sections of each alternative for each section.
Some alternatives showed red "X's" where houses or businesses would be removed. Other alternatives showed few or no X's.
Despite the array of options, the facts didn't add up for John Markgraf, who has hands-on experience with Highway 50.
Markgraf works for the Walworth County Public Works Department. His snowplowing route includes County F to the north and south of the Delavan Lake inlet as well as the short piece of Highway 50 in between.
Markgraf pointed to the traffic projections in the pamphlet passed out to attendees at Wednesday's meeting. He thinks the numbers point to a need for more research of traffic on County F.
What bugs Markgraf is how the number of vehicles drops off on Highway 50 east of South County F.
In 2006, 13,200 vehicles drove the stretch of Highway 50 between North County F and South County F.
But east of South County F to Theatre Road, only 7,600 vehicles were recorded, according to DOT statistics.
"They're using it (County F) as a shortcut to somewhere," he said.
Markgraf suspects the shortcut leads to Highway 67, and he thinks the DOT needs to study traffic on County F and consider alternatives to expanding Highway 50.
Town of Delavan Fire Chief Jerry Edwards said he's concerned a proposed median in Highway 50 between North County F and South County F would hinder emergency vehicle access to the residential neighborhood at the Delavan Lake inlet.
That median could make it hard for emergency responders coming from the west—such as the City of Delavan Fire Department—to turn north into the neighborhood, Edwards said.
Taking a different route into the neighborhood would be difficult for big fire engines.
"Some of those roads are narrow," Edwards said. "You could get stuck up in there."
Although the room Wednesday was full of alternatives, Brent Kendall didn't see the one he wanted.
Kendall owns Pirate's Cove, 622 Highway 50, Delavan. The bar is at the northeast corner of Highway 50 and North County F.
Kendall thinks the DOT is trying to move traffic quickly though the Delavan Lake inlet. He would prefer an alternative route for motorists who want to bypass the inlet.
"The only thing I haven't seen is an alterative," Kendall said. "This is single-minded thinking. A single thought. That just boggles me."