Hwy. LL hassle may soon be over

Highway LL on Port Washington’s north side should reopen by the end of February, City Engineer Roger Strohm said last week.

Work on the highway to extend sewer and water lines north to the Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus is expected to be substantially completed by then, Strohm said.

“We are talking to the county about opening the road as a gravel road,” Strohm said. “We’re looking at our options, but it looks like we’ll open it as a gravel road.”

If the city were to pave the road now, Strohm said, it would likely have to pave it again in a few months because the asphalt would deteriorate quickly.

That’s because there’s so much frost in the ground that paving the road now isn’t practical, he said.

The asphalt is so hot when it’s poured that it would melt the surface frost, and when crews try to compact it the surface would likely crumble, he said.

“Essentially you would be spending a lot of money, over $350,000, and you would have to spend that again in May to repave the road,” Strohm said.

Ozaukee County has assured the city that when it’s appropriate, crews will pave the road, Strohm said, likely in late spring.

“I anticipate that by the end of May it will be paved,” he said.

Because the road probably won’t be paved until then, Strohm added, the city will likely drop the speed limit to 25 mph for now.

Right now, the speed limit is 35 mph until traffic is just north of the Holiday Inn Express, then increases to 55 mph heading north.

Strohm noted that it will likely take a few days after construction on the highway is completed for the road to open.

That’s because signs need to be posted and the roadway marked, likely with barrels and poles, before traffic is allowed.

Opening Highway LL is something that area residents have been eagerly awaiting. The road has been closed for months as crews work on the utility project, funneling traffic heading to and from the northern end of Ozaukee County along Highway KW and Lake Drive, roads also being used by construction traffic from the data center site.

Strohm acknowledged that reopening Highway LL is a priority for drivers who are tired of sharing roads that are covered with mud and crumbling with convoys of trucks.

“I don’t blame them,” he said. “Get them out of the Vantage construction site.”

But, he said, the city’s priority is safety.

“The big caveat is, if we don’t feel it’s safe, we won’t open it,” Strohm said.

“I’m not expecting that, but safety is our priority.”