Stratford board urged to opt out of 153 project

By Kevin O’Brien

Stratford’s Public Works Committee is recommending that the village board not proceed with improvements on STH 153 as part of a planned 2028 project that would require the village to spend thousands of dollars to bring the road up to state standards.

At the committee’s Sept. 24 meeting, DPW Scott Dennee told trustees that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation wants the village to pay for installing drain tile, breaker and fabric underneath the roadway as part of a project that would also replace water and sewer mains.

“There’s none of that in their road right now, but we’re supposed to put it in their road,” he said.

Dennee said the village’s estimate for replacing and the water and sewer mains is about $150,000, but adding all of the other items on the DOT’s wish list would double that cost.

On the other hand, if the village waits 15 to 20 years for the DOT to reconstruct the highway on its own, those costs would be picked up by the state, he said. Dennee said the water main on that stretch is older, but the village has not had any issues with it at this point, and even if it did start having to fix breaks, it would still probably be less expensive in the long run.

“You can have a water main break every year for 15 years and you’ll be even,” he said.

Committee chairman Dale Heil agreed that the village should not have to pick up the tab for work the DOT wants done.

“It’s ridiculous what they’re asking us to do,” he said.

Dennee also noted that the DOT is looking to narrow portions of STH 153 by four feet from curb to curb, about 50 feet past the intersection.

After hearing from Dennee, the committee passed a motion recommending that the village board not proceed with the STH 153 project in 2028.

Other business

■ The committee passed a motion to recommend the village board adopt an updated street and sidewalk project priority list, which includes ongoing projects, fiveyear projections and future projects. At Dennee’s recommendation, the committee recommended moving an alley repair project south of the dental clinic from the five-year plan to future projects. Recycled asphalt was added to the alley just a few years ago, he noted.

■ Committee members reviewed the preliminary 2025 budgets for the public works and parks departments, but no changes were recommended at this time.