BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – The Brown County Public Works Department is continuing to get work done on a handful of major intersections as traffic is down due to the state’s Safer at Home order.
“We are getting some pretty major intersections done. Traffic volume is way down. There are a lot of businesses that are either working from home or they’re not even open,” Highway Commissioner Paul Fontecchio.
Those who have been out and about may have noticed some closures in Bellevue and Howard over the past two weeks. But just as those projects wind down, crews are gearing up to take on another intersection next week.
“Lime Kiln and Allouez we opened up on Tuesday. We’re paving out on Cardinal and Riverview over by the YMCA in Howard. We should have that intersection opened up, weather permitting, by the end of the week,” Fontecchio says, “We’re tentatively planning to go to the other end of Riverview by Shawano. We’re going to hit that intersection next week and hopefully get that one knocked out here in a couple weeks as well. We’re making really good forward progress.”
The Riverview Drive and Shawano Avenue project is set to begin at 2 a.m. on Monday. A detour can be found here. That reconditioning is expected to last about two weeks.
But busy intersections aren’t the only spots around the county that need a little love and care. Interstate 41 is also under the jurisdiction of Brown County Public Works, and they’ve received unusual approval from the state Department of Transportation to fix a stretch of the highway in Ashwaubenon.
“Usually, we aren’t allowed to work on Highway 41 during the daytime. We’re usually restricted to nighttime hours when the traffic volume is low,” Fontecchio says, “The DOT is saying the traffic volume on 41 is so low that they’ll let us work during the day. So that’s awesome from our point of view that we’re going to be able to work during daylight hours and not have to do it all in the dark.”
Fontecchio points out that there is some settling going on near the Oneida Street bridge – where crews will have to wedge and level things out to get rid of the big bump in the road.
While the lower traffic volume makes things safer for crews and less frustrating for drivers, the plan to move projects up is also a decision to help businesses that are either limiting staff – or not open at all.
“You’d hate to have everything open back up and then have the Highway Department come along and close it all back down again. We’re trying to minimize the pain for everybody here,” Fontecchio tells WTAQ News, “I have not had any business owner – and I’ve talked to a lot at these intersections – nobody has said it’s a terrible idea. Everybody thinks it’s a great idea – go get it done while things are slow.”
