 You are Visitor No:
|
This is an e-mail I received on Oct.2.......
The District 1 DOT office here in Madison has submitted an
application for Hazard Elimination and Safety (HES) improvement funding to
improve STH 68 just east of Fox Lake. I hope to hear this month that
funding is approved. The soonest that construction could start would be
2003. Plans need to be made, right of way purchased and utilities relocated
before a contract can be let.
District 1 has recently added a 35 MPH advisory sign for westbound traffic on the south side of STH 68 to match the existing one on the north side.
Both signs are the largest advisory signs made. The night time curve
advisory arrow signs have been replaced with the largest type made.
Please feel free to call me at (608) 246 - 5444 if you have any additional
questions.
Planning Engineer
Now, I think it was decent of him to finally answer all my inquiries. I also think it was convenient of him to forward his reply to Mike Rewey, especially since I had been wanting to make his e-mail address available to all of you. Speaking for myself, of course, I don't think waiting until 2003 is a great idea. I wrote back and told him so. I also asked him how many more people does he think will get killed there in the meantime? I don't expect an answer, especially since it took them over a month to reply the first time. I guess they must have more important things to do. I wish I could say one of them was being concerned for our highway safety Please check the "More Improvements??" for updates.
I have built an on-line petition page. I don't know how much good it will do, but it can't hurt anything. Please go there and sign it.
(The above statement is strictly the opinion of X / Scapes)
Home Making
Improvements? More
Improvements?? What
area residents say...
Boondoggles
John's letter to the Editor
The EMT's letter to the Editor
New
Victim DOT
plans changes
Dedication to Shane Dodge County Committees Feedback or send an e-mail
| Statistics on Highway 68 curve |
written by Nicole Slemin
MADISON - The curve on
Highway 68 about one-half mile east of Fox Lake near Oaks Road has claimed the
lives of two people and injured many more.
According to statistics from
the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that date back to January 1994, two
fatalities, three property damage incidents and seven accidents involving injury
have occurred on or near the curve.
Half of the accidents
occurred in the dark, while bad weather conditions including snow, ice and rain
have been factored into seven of the 10 of the crashes. Both of the fatalities
were the result of head-on collisions and both of the vehicles, in which
occupants were killed, had been traveling west on the road.
The first fatality on the
curve happened just after midnight on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 1996 when
21-year-old Susan Will of Fox Lake was struck head-on by a drunk driver who
crossed the center line of the highway.
Will, who was pregnant at
the time of the accident, was Med-Flighted to the University of Wisconsin
Hospital in Madison. She and her baby died seven days later.
Another fatality occurred on
the highway on Feb. 2, 1997, just a few feet from the curve. The driver of the
vehicle, a 22-year-old Fox Lake man, fell asleep at the wheel, crashed into a
culvert and died. Three passengers riding in the vehicle were also injured.
DOT District Systems
Planning ChiefMike Rewey said he received a letter in late July from Dodge
County Highway Commissioner Robert Sindelar which referred to the curve on as
"an area that should be looked at."
Rewey said DOT plans to
review Sindelar's letter and suggestions in addition to John Eveland's request,
made via telephone, for the state to look into ways to improve the roadway.
During recent communications
with the DOT, Sindelar said he recommended that this particular curve on Highway
68 be extended south through the field and connected with Highway C. Highway C
would then terminate at Highway 68 and the intersection where highways 68 and A
connect near the Fox Lake Fire Department would also be eliminated.
"This is a bad
curve," Sindelar said. "We have been working with the state to improve
it. This alignment would facilitate a great reduction in the curve to the south
rather than the west. It would also greatly flatten the curve making it more
user friendly."
Sindelar said this is
"all still in the thinking phase" and that the recommendation will
first have to go through state budgeting and analysis.
"Then if the state
feels that it is justified, they will program it," he said.
Rewey said at this point the
DOT plans to review the requests in addition to accident data as they look at
other areas and extend the six year program. DOT is currently in the process of
looking for projects to complete in 2006-07.
Home Making Improvements? More Improvements??
What
area residents say... John's letter to the Editor
The EMT's letter to the Editor
Boondoggles New Victim DOT plans changes
|
You are Visitor No:
|
this site assembled by x / scapes
quandaries, queries, questions or concerns
should be sent to x / scapes
These pages are the work and opinion of X / Scapes.
I tried not to step on any toes and hope I won't have to.
I believe in the power of the public majority.
Let's try to do the right thing.