HORTONIA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A long-awaited project in the Fox Valley is finally getting started.
People in Outagamie County have been waiting decades for improvements to Highway 15.
Cars flying by, and one crash after another on Highway 15.
“Obviously, we hate to see anyone perish in a car accident, or even be hurt in a car accident, or even be in a car accident,” said Governor Tony Evers.
Those are two big reasons why, for years, state and local officials, along with a number of residents have wanted to see a change.
“I was talking to supervisor Buckman over there, and he said that this has been in work…when he said a long time, it’s not just been five years, 10 years, or 20 years, he said this was the topic during his high school graduation party, right?” Outagamie County executive Tom Nelson said.
The start of that change kicked off Thursday.
The $136.4 million project covers part of the highway between New London and Greenville. Construction includes creating 11 miles of a four-lane divided road in that stretch of highway, a bypass built around Hortonville and roundabouts at both ends of the village.
“With the reduced amount of driveways and intersections, that is really what is needed out here to help us get people to and from their work and home safely,” said WisDOT project development supervisor Tammy Rabe.
Hortonville, New London and Greenville all have one thing in common: Highway 15. This congestion is what initially led to talks about the project.
“What it really comes down to is safety,” Nelson said. “This has been a terrible stretch of highway; people have had to pay with their lives.”
According to WisDOT data, from 2016 to 2020, 270 crashes took place on Highway 15, resulting in six people dying, which means, in that five-year span, more than one person a year lost their life out on that highway.
“I feel fortunate to be in the position to move it forward, but you can never make up for a lost life out on a road, that’s for sure,” Gov. Evers said.
The expansion project has been in the works since 2001.
Construction is scheduled to begin on June 7.
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