SUAMICO, WI (WTAQ) – Governor Tony Evers was in Suamico on Wednesday to announce $75 million in grants to 152 road projects around Wisconsin – including the expansion of Lineville Road along the border of Howard and Suamico.
“There is one thing every Wisconsinite wants, in addition to the Packers win a Super Bowl, and that’s fixing our darn roads,” Evers says, “This will not only alleviate rush hour traffic and congestion and keep drivers safe – but also helps our kids and parents get to school and home safely every single day. The bottom line is that transportation from fixing those potholes to reducing congestion to maintaining our crumbling highways – it isn’t a Republican or Democrat issue, it’s a people of Wisconsin issue.”
The Lineville Road project will span two years, with construction expected to begin in 2024. It will expand the road from two to four lanes – as well as add sidewalks, bike lanes, and controlled pedestrian crossings.
“The first phase will be from Bay Port High School to Velp Avenue, and the second phase will be from Velp Avenue to Interstate 41. If we did it all at once, you’d be gridlocked and there would be no way to get around,” Brown County Highway Commissioner Paul Fontecchio says, “Most of the time when you get state or federal money, there are all kinds of strings attached – there are really no strings attached. So we can build this road the way we want to build it, and we just get reimbursed the $1 million. So from our perspective, that’s fantastic.”
Those who will be directly impacted by the construction and expansion spoke out strongly in support of the plans – with higher hopes for the future.
“The project is going to create not only better traffic flow, but more opportunity for children to walk and bike to school more safely than they can right now,” says Howard-Suamico School District Superintendent Damian LaCroix, “We need to be inconvenienced for a short period of time so we can benefit for a longer period of time. But we’re prepared for that.”
“Is it going to affect the flow of traffic? Yes. It’s going to affect the flow of traffic for the best,” says James Knopf of the Howard-Suamico Business Professionals Association, “It’s the main thoroughfare, really the calling-card of the community – so it’s important for the road to be able to accomodate future growth. When you have a new construction coming in, you’ve got a lot of businesses here – they’re going to get involved to keep that customer coming in. Instead of saying ‘oh we’re delayed’ – there are many ways of getting to Lineville Road from other roads we have available.”
That project is estimated to cost the county approximately $19 million.
Brown County officials are grateful for the state assistance. It’s also expected to help with planning on projects outside of the designated funding for Lineville Road.
“This allows us to secure the project – and at the same time take the $1 million we were able to get from the state – we’re now able to take those savings and apply them in other areas in Brown County to move some of their projects up,” County Executive Troy Streckenbach tells WTAQ News, “The Village of Ashwaubenon, the Village of Allouez – they now will have projects that were slated for a later time that will move up. So ultimately it’s doing what the state and governor’s office was hoping for, helping us to invest in infrastructure and apply those dollars to projects that help economic development and safety.”
Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary-designee Craig Thompson thinks the Multimodal Local Supplement Awards (MLS) program will be beneficial to communities around the state – especially because applications have been simplified to just two pages.
“This last budget made a down payment and we’ve got a ways to go, but it’s the first down payment and most progress we’ve made in decades here in Wisconsin to achieve that goal,” Thompson says, “Red tape was kept at a minimum, allowing communities to manage their own projects. Communities that don’t have a lot of staff – or grant writers on their staff – were able to apply for this program.”
Overall, 35 projects in Northeast Wisconsin are part of the grants announced Wednesday. Six of those are for $1 million.
In addition to the Lineville Road project, the other five are:
Calumet County: Highway N
Door County: Church Street, Egg Harbor
Fond du Lac County: Highway VV
Oconto County: Harbor improvements in Oconto
Outagamie County: Creekview Lane/Railroad Street in Kimberly
