TOWN OF HORTONIA (NBC 26) — Governor Tony Evers, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and state and local officials have announced a June 7 construction start for a Highway 15 project in Outagamie County that creates 11 miles of four-lane divided highway that will bypass the village of Hortonville.
"Transportation is an important thing and to get things to market from point A to point B, but most importantly it’s making sure that people that drive on the roads are safe," Gov. Evers said at the groundbreaking ceremony outside the Hortonia Town Hall Thursday afternoon.
"Whether it’s township people, or the county folks they’ve been advocating for this, and they know the safety is a top priority for the people that live out here and frankly the people coming and going," Evers said. "There’s so much traffic, obviously there’s safety concerns, and it’s similar to the pandemic frankly… You’re doing everything you can to save a life and if the local people are saying let's get this done, we should have been doing this a long time ago, so safety is a critical issue."
The $136.4 million project extends from Lily of the Valley Drive in the town of Greenville to Highway 45 in New London. It will create roundabouts on either side of Hortonville where the bypass meets existing Highway 15. The first phase of construction, starting June 7, will grade for the new bypass.
“The growing traffic was simply too high to run through Hortonville,” WisDOT Secretary-designee Craig Thompson said. “Today we are breaking ground on a project that will make travel in northeastern Wisconsin easier and safer -- and will increase the quality of life in Hortonville and surrounding communities.”
Traffic forecasts along the corridor called for a four-lane divided highway, and heavy regional traffic conflicts with local traffic through Hortonville. Studies show 75% of eastbound traffic and 52% of westbound traffic have destinations beyond the village. Crash rates along Highway 15 east and west of the village are higher than the statewide average, according to the DOT.
The Transportation Projects Commission enumerated Highway 15 expansion in 2011, with construction originally scheduled to start in 2017. Prioritization of other major highway project needs, combined with past funding availability, contributed to the change in schedule for Highway 15. Gov. Evers and WisDOT announced in 2019 that the project would move forward and set a September 2021 goal for groundbreaking.
Chick hereto visit the Highway 15 project website.
