Road cones and frustration

Motorists traveling between Port Washington and Saukville on Highway 33 have dodged traffic cones and dealt with traffic delays for months as the main connecting route between the two communities was resurfaced in a project that was to have ended by Sept. 30.

The end is in sight, Department of Transportation Construction Project Manager Kurt Flierl said Tuesday, adding he expects the project to be completed in the next week.

“We’re a month late,” he said. “I’ve had people call me frustrated. I understand. I apologize for what they’re being exposed to.”

The bulk of the remaining work entails machining grooved pavement marking edge lines and channelizing lines for turn lanes, Flierl said — work that was complicated when the subcontractor’s grooving machine broke down, “affecting their ability to complete pavement marking work.”

Subcontractor D2K Traffic  was on site Tuesday to make the grooves that will allow the pavement to accept the epoxy paint, Flierl said, but due to rain little work was completed. 

In the meantime, he said, the contractor has been directed to open the lanes west of Market Street in Saukville to alleviate traffic impacts until they can return to the project.

Flierl noted that because the work was not completed on time, the DOT is assessing Stark Pavement Corp., the general contractor, a $2,185 daily fine beginning Oct. 1. The total fine reached $74,290 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and continues to increase.

The DOT isn’t the only agency receiving calls. Port Interim Public Works Director Roger Strohm said he, too, has been getting calls from frustrated motorists.

“The job was supposed to be done the end of September. It’s frustrating,” he said. “It seems like for six weeks they’ve been close (to completion). I think people now are just to the point where that’s enough, what’s going on?”

The end of construction can’t come too soon for many of the businesses located along Highway 33 either, including Saukville Chiropractic Wellness Center.

“This is crazy,” practice manager Karina Chelsky said. “For three weeks they’re doing absolutely nothing. It’s so aggravating. They’re killing us.”

She’s especially frustrated that crews seem to work for a few days, then leave and don’t return for weeks, calling that “irritating and irresponsible.” 

Chelsky said her business is down 40% over this same time last year, something she said is due to the continuing construction and access disruption.

“It’s not just my business,” she added, noting several of the other businesses in Conservancy Court have closed their doors.

Chiropractor Ty Wade said many of the center’s customers commute to Milwaukee, and the fact that traffic is often backed up due to the Highway 33 construction is enough to cause many to skip the clinic.

“It’s exhausting for everyone,” he said. “A lot of commuters are time sensitive.”

Wade said the center took a 40% hit during the pandemic but survived.

“Now, just when you start to dig yourself out, it started all over again,” he said.

Chelsky drafted a petition asking the state, Village of Saukville and state officials to get the project moving, citing the impact on local businesses.

“This corridor is a vital entrance to Saukville,” she wrote, noting a wide array of businesses are located there. “Customers, patients, employees and delivery drivers depend on clear, reliable access. When customers cannot figure out how to reach a business, they turn around. Patients cancel appointments. Shoppers go elsewhere. Some never return.

“These are real financial losses with lasting consequences.”

She asked that the work be completed as soon as possible and that the fines assessed be used to reimburse businesses for their losses, and for a clear line of communication to be opened with businesses.

“I am angry that businesses with no control over this project continue to carry its financial burden,” she wrote.

Chelsky said that while she did not seek additional signatures on the petition, she contacted other businesses in the area and they unanimously supported it.

“I want somebody to pay attention and get them to do it (complete the work),” she said.