County aims to solve Hwy. W flooding woes

Highway W north of Green Bay Avenue in Saukville regularly floods, but Ozaukee County highway officials are planning improvements to that stretch of road to solve the problem.

Last week, the county Public Works Committee authorized Highway Commissioner Jon Edgren to pursue a $1 million state transportation grant to reconstruct Highway W, also known as Riverside Drive, from Green Bay Avenue north to Mink Ranch Road.

Ironically, money for the project became available after the state Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Gov. Tony Evers incorrectly used his line-item veto on transportation funding to fund repaving of the Ozaukee Interurban Trail bike path and similar projects.

The grant would pay for two-thirds of the project, with the county responsible for supplying the other $500,000.

Edgren said construction probably wouldn’t start for a couple of years and would probably take another two years to complete.

Highway W is currently scheduled to be resurfaced in 2023 as part of the county’s five-year capital improvement program.

“But seeking WisDOT’s construction funds for the project would allow a much larger reconstruction project, which would investigate the impacts of expanding and/or raising the highway,” Edgren wrote in a memo to the committee.

Edgren said the reconstruction of that stretch of Highway W wouldn’t be possible without outside funding.

“Given that we may be able to obtain up to $1 million for the reconstruction costs with less than a 50/50 share is a tremendous opportunity,” he wrote.