BROWN COUNTY, Wis — Brown County roads need repair, that's the message from the county's executive on Thursday as he asked for 11 million dollars to pay for needed repairs and road construction projects.
In 2020 Brown County is going to experience another summer, full of cones. At least that is the current plan for nearly 20 different sites scattered across the region.
"It's nice to have the money to be able to go and aggressively move the markers on the quality of our infrastructure," says Brown County Highway Commissioner Paul Fontecchio.
Commissioner Fontecchio says one of the projects many will notice next summer will be on Lime Kiln Road, as traffic is converted to just one lane headed in both directions.
"So from Allouez Avenue up to the city of Green Bay limits we're resurfacing that road that has a lot of truck traffic on it and it needs to be done," says Fontecchio.
There are another 13 road improvement projects on the agenda at the county level. Something smaller communities like the Village of Denmark would have a hard time tackling without Brown counties backing.
"Without the counties support and their investment in the infrastructure we couldn't have taken on any of these projects," says Village President Greg Mleziva.
The biggest fix on the counties to-do list is replacing four bridges in 2020. One of the bridges on the list in Denmark is 62 years old.
"From the village standpoint it's a real safety issue. There has been for years crumbling pieces of the bridge that have fallen down," adds President Mleziva.
"Right now as of today it's one of the worst bridges in the county," adds Fontecchio.
The bridge on County Highway R has been on the most replace list for a couple of years according to Fontecchio, and it's one of four slated for demolition next summer.
"The timing is right. It's time to get it fixed," says Mleziva.
Brown county plans on completely replacing about 15 bridges over the next 6 years, spending about 10 million dollars on highway projects per year. Below we’ve included the highlights of Brown County’s 2020 highway projects provided by County leaders.
2020 Budget Highlights
2020 Major Projects:
· CTH R (Devils River Trial to CTH KB) - $2.8 M – Two bridge replacements & roadway reconstruction.
· CTH V (Lime Kiln Road from Allouez Ave. to Debra Lane) - $1.8 M – Full depth resurfacing
· CTH HH (Vanderperren Way from Holmgren Way to Ashland Ave.) - $1.9 M – Reconstruction
· CTH T (STH 54 to Caledonia Dr.) - $800 k – Full depth resurfacing
· CTH J (Bridge over Suamico River) - $930 k – Bridge replacement
· CTH V (Bridge over Bower Creek) - $732 k – Bridge replacement
· STH 29 & CTH VV Interchange - $244 k County Funds – Engineering & real estate acquisition for 2021 & 2022 construction.
2020 Maintenance Projects:
· CTH EA (Huron Road) - $85 k – Railroad approach repairs at crossing south of Humboldt Road.
· CTH X - $210 k – Large culvert replacement east of CTH G.
· Highway Safety Plan Improvements - $50 k – Improvements at intersections and curves.
