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Highway Route Considered; Washington County Board to Vote Tuesday

Posted on: Thursday, 7 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

West Bend The Washington County Board on Tuesday will be asked to approve the proposed route of a $12.5 million county highway to be built north of Highway 60, between U.S. Highway 41 and the City of Hartford.

The board's Highway Committee also is seeking authority to spend $1 million in county sales tax revenue on future engineering studies and design plans for the proposed two-lane highway, as part of a resolution to be considered by the board on Tuesday.

At a joint meeting Wednesday, both the County Board's Finance and Executive committees agreed to forward the requests to the full board with no recommendation.

Highway Commissioner Ken Pesch said Wednesday that his department already had set aside the $275,000 needed for the next step in planning for the project an 18-month to three year study of the highway's environmental effects.

Engineering and design work would be started after the study is completed, and sales tax dollars would not be spent until then, he said.

The route for a new highway as recommended by the Highway Committee would use a combination of Highway K, Kettle Moraine Drive and Arthur Road.

This east-west road parallel to Highway 60 is needed to alleviate congestion on Highway 60, serve businesses in Hartford's Dodge Industrial Park, and accommodate future subdivision growth north of Slinger and Hartford, local officials have said.

Kenneth Yunker, deputy director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, reminded members of the Finance and Executive committees Wednesday that regional transportation plans recommend two additional county highways in the corridor between Slinger and Hartford, one north and another south of Highway 60.

Washington County has the responsibility to decide which of the two highways, the north or south, should be the first to be built, he said. Last month, the Highway Committee chose to pursue a northern route as its priority, rejecting a southern route because of higher costs, greater environmental impacts and the opposition of the Town of Richfield.

At Wednesday's joint meeting, several county supervisors questioned funding.

"I don't think the county can do this project on its own and pay for the whole thing," said Board Chairman Ken Miller.

Miller said that the City of Hartford had pledged $1 million to the project. He suggested limiting the county's share of the construction cost to $1 million.

Remaining costs, or an estimated $10.5 million for buying right of way and building the road, should come from other sources, such as federal highway money, Slinger and local businesses, he said.

On Tuesday, Pesch and Highway Committee Chairman Tom Sackett of Hartford had said that the project could wait until federal money was available to pay 80% of the costs, or about $10 million.

Wednesday, Pesch told the Finance and Executive committees that the Federal Highway Administration allocates about $1 million in each biennial budget to the county.

The county Highway Department already has set aside those federal funds through 2008 for other projects. If the county saves its full federal allocation beginning in 2009 for this one project, it would take 20 years to accumulate the $10 million, Pesch said.

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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