Transportation Round Table Discussion Held
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 -- 12:48 PM
State Representative Scott Suder, State Senator Terry Moulton and Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb were at the American Legion in Neillsville Tuesday morning to answer transportation questions and concerns from area residents.Secretary Gottlieb said that transportation is important in our state for agriculture, manufacturing and tourism. His agency manages 12,000 miles of highway system in the state and this year they will spend $1 billion on the highway system with $60 million of that on rehabilitation projects in the Northwest District.
Neillsville Mayor Steve Mabie expressed concern over the new Hwy 10 and how this area maybe left out in the cold. He asked if there was the possibility of some signage that could direct people to Neillsville from the Marshfield area. Clark County Economic Director Sheila Nyberg also expressed concern of people not coming to the Neillsville area and points west, which could hurt economic development
Representative Suder said a study was done to keep interest in the expansion of Hwy 10 to the west and the study showed that traffic volume is down so far now the Transportation Department is working at taking care of safety issues like resurfacing and intersection improvements.
Mayor Mabie also brought up the idea of toll booths on the interstate near the Minnesota and Illinois borders but Secretary Gottlieb said that is prohibited by Federal Law because the interstate was built with Federal money.
Other questions were brought up as well throughout the roundtable discussion including licensing issues and other ways to fund the Transportation Department.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.