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State DOT Officials Consider Future Of La Crosse County Road Project

Project Slated To Cost $140M

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The future of a controversial new road project in La Crosse County is up for debate at a Wisconsin Department of Transportation meeting on Monday.

In 1997, DOT officials pledged millions of dollars for a new La Crosse road with hopes of relieving congestion between the northern suburbs to the city of La Crosse. The next year, voters then overwhelmingly rejected the project since it was going to run through the city’s marsh.

Since then, the project has been in limbo and the money has been sitting in reserves.

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On Monday, DOT officials will decide whether or not to cancel the $140-million project.

Joe Olson, DOT southwest region director, said the department wants to find a solution to help with congestion and safety issues and that can include several solutions.

“It can be portions of highway expansion. It can be portions of a new road way. It can be expanded bike and ped facilities and transit facilities,” he said. “We want to work with the community to try to address all those issues and come to a solution that actually finally gets us to addressing that purpose and need.”

La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat is pushing first for a new transportation study before the project begins.

“There isn’t any local official that’s going to say, ‘Yes, we want another road through the marsh,’” Kabat said. “But, the feeling is, let’s look at a city transportation vision and bring people together to try to overcome the mistrust, the skepticism and all that.”

The study could cost the state around $7 million and would look at project alternatives.