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Highway 12 proposal angers Sugar Creek residents

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SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP — Some residents of Sugar Creek Township are up in arms over a proposal that could reroute Highway 12 between Elkhorn and Whitewater, cutting straight through the township.

The Walworth County Jurisdictional Highway Planning Committee is developing the county's 2035 highway system plan, which includes recommendations for the state Department of Transportation on how to develop and improve highways in the county.

Public Works Director Shane Crawford, who chairs the county planning committee, said the proposal would serve as a response plan in case traffic in the area increases.

The committee has an advisory role and the decision would be up to DOT officials, he said.

The projects are not expected to take place any time soon, Crawford said. Instead, the plan outlines what would be in Walworth County's best interest if DOT officials were to explore the idea.

Although the plan is tentative, it has spread concern among Sugar Creek residents.

They want planning committee officials to delete the Highway 12 reroute and instead include in the plan widening Highway 12 to four lanes along the existing route. And 125 residents signed a petition asking the committee to remove the rerouting from the plans.

Bob Arnold, a former county board supervisor and a Sugar Creek resident at the forefront of the debate, said his fellow residents are concerned that rerouting Highway 12 would require the demolition of about 40 houses.

"A lot of it—something like 491 acres of land—a lot of that is prime agricultural land, wetlands and so on," Arnold said. "For what purpose? It just isn't feasible, and it also costs a lot more to build that than it would be to merely improve Highway 12."

Town Chairman Dave Duwe said there's been no environmental assessment and no research to determine if the proposed freeway would be feasible. The proposal, he said, was arbitrarily developed years ago with no research to back it up.

"This is the No. 1 issue among many residents," he said.

Thomas Longtin, DOT state program engineer for the southeast region, said DOT officials have no plan for any major improvements to Highway 12, and it would take strong county and local support for the department to prioritize such project.

Once approved by the Jurisdictional Highway Planning Committee, the plan goes to the Walworth County Board of Supervisors and then to the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. Once adopted, the plan becomes part of the regional transportation plan.