SHEBOYGAN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Work is underway for a long-awaited, highway project. State Highway 23’s expansion in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan Counties has been tied up in court for years.
Opponents say it will hurt the environment, and make life worse for neighbors. But supporters say lives are at stake.
Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation says there were 217 crashes on WIS 23 from 2013 to 2017.
“Growing up in the Plymouth area, we’ve lost some family and friends on Highway 23 too, safety is obviously the top priority, Governor Tony Evers said.
Six of those accidents were deadly, including the one that killed a Fond du Lac High School counselor three years ago.
“Sadly, we’ve had a number of accidents on this stretch of highway, we’ve lost lives on this highway,” said Sheboygan County Administrator Adam Payne.
“It’s a shame because, had this project been done sooner, that may not have happened.”
Payne tells FOX 11 in 1999 when the proposal was originally introduced, the expansion would’ve cost around $45 million. By the time work is done, it’s estimated to now cost over $150 million.
“If there’s one word, I think, that would define this project, it would be perseverance,” said WisDOT secretary Craig Thompson.
Perseverance, rising safety concerns and about 20 years after it was first proposed is what it took to finally get to Wednesday’s groundbreaking.
Highway 23 is doubling up from two lanes to four on a 19-mile stretch in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan Counties.
Work will be happening from US 151 in Fond du Lac to County Road P near Plymouth.
Thompson tells FOX 11 this will give drivers some extra space, and the counties involved more room to grow.
“There’s over $2 billion of freight that moves along this corridor every year, so it’s going to be able to move a lot more efficiently now that there’s gonna be four lanes.”
The project was supposed to start in 2015. A lawsuit, questioning environmental safety, brought that to a halt.
“There are always going to be some folks who have farmland, or may lose their backyard because of a new road or an expansion, such as this,” said Payne.
“We have to look at the greater good, and this is a project that was long overdue and is so important to the vitality of our community.”
Thompson says crews and elected officials, who had been discussing this project for decades, say they’re ready for the work on WIS 23 to finally begin.
“There’s so many, but these folks, as far as local leaders have been…they just have not let this issue die.”
Work is expected to kick off May 13th and is scheduled to wrap up in the fall of 2022.
