By John McLoone

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation wants the City of Prescott to take responsibility for maintenance of Hwys. 35 and 10 in the city limits.

The city council’s Public Works Committee recommended at a meeting June 27 against signing a proposed DOT agreement.

The city is also looking for the DOT to allow a pedestrian crossing at Hwys. 29/35 and Hwy. 10. Also, the committee decided that the city does not have funding to oversee maintenance of the four-lane state highways.

The DOT has plans for some road work on both Hwy. 10 and Hwy. 25 in 2027. Hwy. 35 would have a 2-inch mill and overlay from Wacota Street to Kinnickinnic Street with concrete pavement repair from Kinnickinnic Street to Hwy. 10. There will be some storm water improvements, and curb and gutter replacement where necessary.

“The city’s cost share of the project is estimated at $30,000 for downtown parking.

The Hwy. 10 project will entail a 2.5-inch mill with a hot mix asphalt overlay from the Minnesota state line to Lake/Locust Street. The city’s estimated cost share for that project is projected at $38,000.

The proposed DOT maintenance agreement the committee reviewed states, “The Municipality shall at its own cost and expense maintain all portions within the specified limits of this agreement that lies within its jurisdiction for such maintenance through statutory requirements in a manner satisfactory to the State and shall make ample provision for such maintenance each year to include: -Maintain all items outside, and under, the travel way to include, but not limited to, parking lanes, curb and gutter, drainage facilities, sidewalks, multi-use paths, modular block retaining walls, pedestrian refuge islands, and landscaping features.

-Remove snow and ice from sidewalks, multi-use paths, and pedestrian refuge islands.

-Implement a street sweeping program to help prevent the accumulation of dirt, sand, leaves, paper, or other clogging debris.

Maintain the storm sewer system to provide a free flow condition throughout the life of the facility including, but not limited to, annual inspection of inlets, catch basins, manholes, pipe; annual cleaning and removal of blockages, replace broken or malfunctioning castings, grates, grit covers, risers, covers and frames; repair top slabs along with bottom and walls of basins. Routine mortar repairs such as tuck pointing and plastering to the inlets, catch basins, and manholes.”

Wolf said the city doesn’t have the budget for that work, and the DOT isn’t completely rebuilding the road, just repairing it, meaning that more repairs could be needed.

“Per the agreement the municipality needs to take on the responsibility of maintenance for all of STH 10 and 35 within the municipal limits solely at its own cost. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation does not contribute to any of these repairs financially unless it deems it a complete failure of a section of road or storm sewer,” said Wolf. “The current project proposed by WisDOT is not a complete reconstruction of the roadway and only is a spot repair when deemed necessary by WisDOT engineer review. This proves problematic as given the age of the infrastructure at any time the items not replaced may fail and be the financial responsibility of the City of Prescott.”

Wolf added, “The City of Prescott currently does not have any funding for maintenance of these roads, nor do they have the necessary safety equipment to take on maintenance repairs for a road that has up to 10,000 – 15,000 average daily travc on a four lane highway.”

And that traffic total is what drives the need for underpasses on Hwy. 10.

The city has for several years worked with the DOT to try to get safe crossing spots on Hwy. 10. The city has identified two areas on Hwy. 10 where it would like underpass sidewalks constructed. One would be at Canton Street and the other would be at Orrin Road.

“Since the last meeting staff did meet with WisDOT to discuss requested pedestrian improvements per the City’s Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. Wis-DOT is currently reviewing USH 10 for potential lane and added crosswalk/sidewalk improvements and at the time of this report nothing had been submitted yet for consideration,” Wolf told committee members.

Alderperson Bailey Ruona made a motion to respond to the DOT that the maintenance agreements won’t be signed without the pedestrian crossings and other issues of responsibility for taking care of the road are hammered out.

Compost site

The committee also voted to extend hours of the city compost site to Tuesdays from 4 p.m.-7 p.m.

Concern was raised to the city council at a recent meeting about hours being limited, and that resident cited extended hours at the River Falls compost site. However, River Falls has also now limited its compost site hours because of illegal dumping and vandalism.

Locust Street and Elm/ Washington projects The public works committee approved a new road construction schedule that calls for Locust Street to be rebuilt in 2023 and work on Elm Street and Washington Street will be tackled in 2024. The Elm/Washington work is being pushed back a year so the city can apply for grants for the project.

Costs are increasing dramatically since estimates for the projects were put together by Cedar Corp., the city’s engineering firm late last year. Projects were refigured with inflation and rising fuel costs, and Locust Street is now projected to cost $1,705,900, up $137,500 from last November. Elm/ Washington is projected at a cost of $3,297,000, up $354,350 from last year.

The Locust work will come first because there are no grant funds available for that project, and several grant opportunities on Elm/ Washington.

This map shows locations where the City of Prescott would like underpasses constructed to allow for pedestrian and bike traffic to get across busy Hwy. 10 and Hwy 29/35. It’s interesting to note traffic counts at various points on the highways in the city as well. Map courtesy of City of Prescott.