DOT talks highway improvements
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WILLIAMS BAY — A few dozen residents attended a public hearing Wednesday in Williams Bay where details about two road projects were revealed years before construction is scheduled to begin.
The state Department of Transportation held a meeting at Williams Bay High School to lobby for feedback regarding resurfacing projects on highways 50 and 67 scheduled for 2013 and 2014. Designers are still completing environmental documents and preliminary drafts before a final design is completed next year.
The state plans to resurface Highway 67 from near Highway 50 north to Commerce Drive.
The improvements are to address turning movement needs, deteriorating pavement and beam guard placement and provide for acceptable operations in the future.
Right turn lanes are proposed and bicycle accommodations are included in the design, according to a news release from the state Department of Transportation. Project leaders Wednesday said part of the improvements is meant to address several accidents at intersections.
There are no plans to increase the number of lanes.
"We're the experts on the roadway, but all of you are the experts that live here and drive this everyday," said Gary Metzer, project manager. "You have the information that we need to make a better roadway."
Metzer said road crews will replace the top few inches of about 3.4 miles of road on Highway 67 between Williams Bay and Elkhorn. The project will start in the summer of 2014 and take about four or five months to complete, he said.
The cost of the projects was not available. The Department of Transportation does not allow its personnel to answer media inquires without permission.
Metzer said the Highway 67 project might require the state to purchase a small amount of real estate along the construction zone.
Highway 50 underwent two resurfacing projects over the last 31 years, according to the Department of Transportation. The latest maintenance is expected to begin in the spring or summer of 2013.
Road crews were busy this summer completing maintenance on more than 29 miles of road on four different highways across Walworth County. Most of the work was sealing, an inexpensive method for improving a road's longevity, engineers said.
The Department of Transportation currently is working on two projects in Walworth County. Crews are making improvements to the road and storm sewer at Highway 59 and Janesville Road, which are expected to be completed in November.
They're also pouring overlays and approach slabs on a section of Interstate 43. The cost of the project is $3.7 million.
Sep 30, 2011 at 5:36 p.m.
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It's because highways are a gov't operation. Gov't and it's operatives get away with anything because 200 million sheep let them.
Sep 30, 2011 at 4:35 p.m.
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Don't get me wrong--this should be and should have been a priority for years--put the blame anywhere--there not getting fixed,then or now.
Sep 30, 2011 at 3:17 p.m.
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Hey Marge-How much did Doyle steal from the transportation fund again? you know the one that is supposed to be used to maintain roads. I don't see how years of neglecting the roads is all the sudden Walker's fault.
Sep 30, 2011 at 2:57 p.m.
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Funny, too, how the roads have ALWAYS stayed that way regardless of the level of "funding".
Sep 30, 2011 at 2:55 p.m.
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...oh, but its a "funding" thing....riiiight
Sep 30, 2011 at 2:51 p.m.
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marge- Why don't the road people just do their jobs and fix the holes and cut the raised-bumps off the roads instead of just driving past them every day so we don't have damage to our car suspensions??
Oh, silly me, thats not the gov't way of doing things.
Sep 30, 2011 at 2:39 p.m.
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Now Now--you know "were broke" and we need money to pay for all the new appointment positions with giant raises the governors pals need as well as tax breaks for corporations(oops--I mean "job creators") besides , it would probably be those evil union thugs doing the work--and you know we can't have anyone in WI making decent money.
Sep 30, 2011 at 1:58 p.m.
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"maintenance vehicles" drive over it every day
Sep 30, 2011 at 1:57 p.m.
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....but, of course, it's "lack of funding" as "maintenance" drives over it every day.
Sep 30, 2011 at 1:55 p.m.
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brent- Par-For-The-Course everywhere, along with ridges and holes in highways and roads that never get fixed while "highway maintenance" vehicles drive over and past them every day....Nice, eh??
I live just up the road from one hole in the road that never gets fixed and listen as vehicle-after-vehicle goes BANG BANG BANG over it.
Sep 30, 2011 at 5:51 a.m.
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It's unbelievable that the public will be made to drive highway 50 two more years in the condition it's in ! The highway's current condition is deplorable!
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