The State 15 bypass project would expand 11 miles of the highway into a four-lane highway from New London to Greenville to bypass Hortonville, which would “increase safety, enhance economic development and lower transportation costs in the region,” according to the DOT’s project website. There was some skepticism if the project was ever going to move forward as other projects are looking to get funding.
The Hortonville Village Board sent letters to Walker, Ross and state lawmakers urging them to keep the project in the budget. “While the village of Hortonville acknowledges the budgetary challenges of the transportation crisis in Wisconsin and appreciate the efforts to address these long-standing transportation issues, we cannot support any further delays, reconfiguration, or reevaluation of a project that has been so thoroughly vetted,” the board wrote in the letter. “Doing so would be accepting of further loss of life and (be) wasteful of the millions of dollars that have been incurred.”
“With regard to that project (Highway 15) and the meeting you referred to yesterday, WisDOT would like to reiterate that this project is funded under the governor’s budget, and WisDOT fully supports the governor’s budget,” wrote Patty Mayers, the director of the DOT’s office of public affairs.
