Work on Highway NN among capital improvement projects planned
By Vicky Wedig
Staff Writer
The look of the roadway in front of the Walworth County government buildings will change from a country road to an urban streetscape this summer.
County Highway NN is scheduled for reconstruction this summer from Borg Road east through the county complex.
“It’s really going to transform this area,” said county Director of Central Services Kevin Brunner.
Brunner said the $3.6 million project involves rebuilding nearly a mile of the roadway and installing curb and gutter, a sidewalk on one side of the street, terraces with trees and streetlights.
“At night this place will be much better lit than it is now,” he said.
Brunner said the county complex is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operation with the Walworth County Jail, Lakeland Health Care Center and Aurora Lakeland Medical Center along the stretch of road, and LED street lighting will increase visibility.
“That’s going to be a big improvement,” he said.
The project makes up about 45 percent of the county’s capital improvement program budget for 2015. The budget includes nearly $4 million for road construction this year, $954,000 for Public Works Department projects and $928,000 for Sheriff’s Office items. Big-ticket items in those departments are $260,000 to replace a six-wheel drive demo and plow truck in Public Works and $355,000 to replace 12 marked squad cars and $275,000 to upgrade the security camera system in the Sheriff’s Office.
The budget also includes $400,000 to replace the Public Works Department’s computerized operations management system, $354,000 for information technology countywide and $255,000 to renovate the basement of the Walworth County Government Center in downtown Elkhorn.
Brunner said the county is also completing a major project that was included in last year’s capital improvement budget – the replacement of the Lake Beulah dam in the Town of East Troy.
The $1.5 million project required the closure of County Highway J, 1,100 feet of which is actually part of the dam, he said.
Capital projects
The County Board develops a five-year capital improvement plan and adopts the current year’s plan with the county budget each year, Brunner said.
The proposed plans range from a low of $5.4 million in 2017 to a high of $14.6 million next year.
Next year’s budget includes a $7.5 million project to construct a public works building that was recommended in a facilities needs study in 2001, Brunner said.
“This has been programmed for many years,” he said, and is the last of the county buildings recommended for improvement to be completed.
This year’s capital improvement budget includes $485,000 for the engineering and architectural planning of the vehicle maintenance facility that will be erected in front of the existing Department of Public Works buildings, he said.
The new facility will be used to maintain the nearly 350 vehicles and pieces of equipment in the county’s fleet, which includes all vehicles used in the Public Works, Sheriff’s, Health and Human Services and Land Use and Resource Management departments, Brunner said.
Plans for the new building will be unveiled at the Public Works Committee meeting at 3:30 p.m. May 18 at the Government Center.
