No parking on CTH D near Rib Lake fields

People attending events at the Rib Lake school district fields will have to walk a little farther.

Members of the Taylor County Highway Commission on Monday approved a request from the school district to have no parking on Kennedy St. (CTH D) from about in front of the new highway shop north to the entrance to Rib Lake Elementary School. The action extends the no parking to the east side of the road. There had already been parking restrictions on the west side of the road.

“It is a safety hazard,” said highway commissioner Ben Stanfley, who explained that because of the steep ditches along the road, people would park and walk on the roadway when attending events there.

The school district made the request, noting that with an increased parking area for the fields, the street parking was not necessary.

Pilot program

Taylor County will join in a pilot program of the Northwest region of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to have the towns, villages and city take over administering the funds through the local road improvement program.

Previously, the county highway department administered these funds collecting compensation in the process. Stanfley noted the compensation for the additional work only covered a portion of what actually went into doing the administration work for these programs and supports making the change. “It is a lot of additional work on me,” he said of the current system.

He noted the change will make things more fair across the state as each of the state’s 72 highway commissioners treats things a little different.

The committee’s action will open the door for local governments in Taylor County to participate in the pilot program.

In other business, committee members approved a bridge aid request for Lekie Drive in the town of Deer Creek.