The village administrator in Hortonville says the likely two-year delay of the Hortonville bypass is a “slap in the face.”
The Legislature’s budget committee didn’t earmark any money toward the Highway 15 project, as part of a deal on transportation funding.
Diane Wessel says lawmakers told her earlier that they were all in favor of it. She says it kind of feels like they were lied to.
Wessel says safety is a big issue. The project would stretch from Greenville to New London, and parts of the existing Highway 15 would be widened. There would also be a median. She says they’ve had a number of deadly crashes over the years, and maybe some could’ve been avoided if the project hadn’t already been delayed in the past.
Wessel is also concerned about the impact on economic development. She says projects are underway, or in the works, with the understanding that the bypass was coming soon. She says a 40-unit housing development is already going up along Main Street. She says that happened because the developer understood that 16,000 vehicles wouldn’t be going by there every day.
