The intersection of North Sawyer and Oshkosh Avenue in Oshkosh. September 29, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The intersection of North Sawyer and Oshkosh Avenue is a growing pain for local and visiting drivers in Oshkosh.
“Those of us that are born and raised here, have had to deal with this intersection our entire lives,” said James Rabe, Public Works Director for the City of Oshkosh. “It is very confusing as a driver to navigate through this intersection.”
On Monday, the intersection served as a backdrop as local leaders highlighted the impact road quality has on emergency services, tourism and more.
Members of the fire department, Public Works, and even UW Oshkosh were on hand to show what better roads can bring.
“The damage to our vehicles, especially industrial vehicles, business vehicles,” said Republican State Representative Ron Tusler. “Businesses sometimes won’t come to our state because our roads aren’t good enough. I mean it really does financially matter to those businesses.”
Democratic State Representative Lori Palmeri was also at the event and shared her thoughts.
“Our EMS, our public safety providers, that’s wear and tear on their vehicles. That costs us taxpayers,” She said. “Myself as an auto driver, when we’re constantly driving over rough roads, the cost of these suspension systems are not cheap, and that cost is going up.”
The 2025-2027 biennial budget allocated over 300-million dollars for road improvements.
Money Tusler said should be distributed evenly across the state.
“Let’s see that money come in and fix those roads that a lot of people have been bothered by for a long time, instead of the money just getting spent on a couple of big projects on the far side of the state,” he said.
While Palmeri said they need to be thinking long-term for funding.
“We’ve got to look at doing better development in terms of closing that special mismatch, but also multi-modal. And, we’ve got to figure out the funding source going forward.”
As for the Oshkosh intersection? Work to modernize it is already in the works by city officials and the State Department of Transportation.
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