HOBART, WI (WTAQ) – Local and state leaders gathered in Hobart on Tuesday to celebrate the group effort conducted in acquiring the largest federal transportation grant in Brown County history.
The villages of Hobart and Howard continue to grow and with that comes a need for improved infrastructure.
Officials got all they could have wished for and more when they secured a nearly $20 million federal grant for the State Highway 29 and County Highway VV interchange project.
“Today is a great day for Brown County, its municipalities, businesses, and families,” says Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach. “It’s not every day we secure an investment like this. It speaks volumes to the success we can achieve by working together to improve our quality of life for future generations.”
Executive Streckenbach did note that it was a challenging process.
“As we all know infrastructure dollars are very tough to come by and when you’re dealing with federal systems it’s very difficult to stand out in a crowd when there is 50 other states,” he says.
And to effectively stand out it takes all hands on deck, or as Streckenbach noted a couple of times, a “full court press.”
“When we’re a group, we’re strong,” he explains. “When we’re standing alone, we’re weak.”
Streckenbach was speaking at Reading Connections in Hobart, along with federal highway administration officials, congressional, state, and local officials, and area business owners.
The project, which is being funded by the 2018 Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) Discretionary Grant Program, is aimed at improving safety.
Local officials and business owners mentioned the dangerous “J-Turn” featured at the existing State Highway 29 and County Highway VV intersection.
The new interchange will feature sidewalks, striped on-street bicycle lanes, and roundabouts in an effort to improve road safety.
In addition to safety, the project is looking to stimulate an area that has demonstrated both population and economic growth.
“From 2010 to 2014, Hobart was the fastest growing municipality in the state of Wisconsin,” says Village President Rich Heidel.
He notes that Hobart’s population has doubled in the past ten years.
They also aren’t just growing in physical numbers, but dollar figures as well.
“We have created $155 million of a new tax base,” says Heidel. “We are the home for almost 200 new full-time employment opportunities.”
A project of this magnitude will take some time to get underway and Executive Streckenbach addressed the timeline moving forward.
“Right now we’re thinking this is around a $30 million project,” he says. “Essentially, we’re hoping to be able to start it around 2022, give or take a year.”
