Kewaunee County towns receive road construction grants from state

Two towns in Kewaunee County received a one-time grant from a new state program to help fund local transportation projects.

The town of Pierce received $106,107.62 for planned work on Eighth Road and the town of Lincoln was awarded $63,625.21 for work on Cedar Road, the state announced March 4. Both grants cover 70 percent of the projects' total costs.

The work on Eighth Road in Pierce will take place between Kewaunee County D and Longfellow Road, a stretch of about a mile. Town Chairperson Brian Paplham said the culverts and shoulders will be replaced and the road repaved and resealed. He said the target date to start work is July 1, with completion by Sept. 1.

In Lincoln, work will pulverize the mile-long stretch of Cedar between Kewaunee County S and Pheasant Road, install new base in spots, repave and reseal.

The funds come from the Multimodal Local Supplement, a one-time program the state included in its 2019-21 budget. The competitive grant program awarded a total of $75 million to 152 communities across Wisconsin: 84 towns won grants totaling $28.7 million, 34 cities and villages split grants totaling $18.5 million, and 34 counties were awarded a total of $26.1 million. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation said it received 1,596 applications requesting a total of $1.47 billion.

Communities were encouraged by the state to seek sponsors for shares of their project costs not covered by the requested grants. Paplham said Ebert Enterprises dairy megafarm is splitting the remaining costs with Pierce.

Lincoln Town Chairperson Cory Cochart said another dairy megafarm, El-Na Farms, will cover a share of his town's costs. Cochart said the project should be more cost-effective than constantly repairing potholes exacerbated by heavy trucks going to and from El-Na, located on Pheasant Road.

The grant program was designed to allow communities to prioritize their transportation needs and submit projects ranging from roads and bridges to harbors, railroads, transit equipment and pedestrian and bicycle accommodations. Three separate committees comprised of representatives from counties, cities, villages and towns met to review the applications in January and February.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or [email protected].

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kewaunee County towns receive road construction grants from state