MINOCQUA – A proposal to reshape a hillside just south of the Island of Minocqua to allow construction of a short sidewalk will cost over $100,000, according to early estimates from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT).
The town board took up the issue Tuesday night. There is a sidewalk on the west side of the U.S. Highway 51 bridge. But going south toward Manitou Park, there is only a grass path (a portion has blacktop) that disappears into the hillside. That forces pedestrians to step into the lane of traffic to bypass the retaining wall. On the east side of the highway there is a sidewalk from Country Club Road to the downtown. There, too, pedestrians and bicyclists have to cross the busy highway to reach it.
Town Chairman Mark Hartzheim said it was a “ridiculous situation” to have a sidewalk go nowhere, especially in a community dependent on tourism traffic and with downtown attractions and events. “We should be willing to spend some money to correct the situation,” he said.
The DOT plans to repave just under a mile of U.S. Highway 51 South in the summer of 2024 from just south of Manitou Park to the bridge. But the hillside reconstruction was not in those long-range plans. Its Bureau of Structures came up with a preliminary estimate of $450,000 to reconstruct the entire retaining wall. But Minocqua town officials don’t believe the entire wall has to be redone to accommodate the sidewalk extension. The DOT apparently now agrees and says it would spend upwards of $100,000 to replace whatever is needed to get the sidewalk extended. It will fund a preliminary design “seeking the lowest cost alternative.”
In turn, the DOT wants the town board to cost-share the project. “Without a number (of the town’s cost sharing) they won’t proceed,” Director of Public Works Mark Pertile said of the DOT’s potential refusal to reconstruct the retaining wall. The DOT considers the current retaining wall to be in good condition and absent the sidewalk, it probably would not have to be redone. The proposed sidewalk is completely within the DOT’s right-of-way. The town board with some reluctance agreed to spend upwards $50,000 on the sidewalk extension.
The motion to cost share, which did not allocate the dollars, passed 4-1 with Supervisor Billy Fried in opposition. “A lot of things have been thrown at us the past six months,” Fried said, citing getting town roads in shape, the potential cost of redoing the road over Dam Road, reconstruction of the downtown fishing pier and projected Island infrastructure work.
