Many of us here testified in opposition to this project. (Please spare the messenger.)
Mike Neuman
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Video:
An Open Road
Talk Of Benefits And Drawbacks Surround Finished Highway 12
Wisconsin State Journal :: FRONT :: A1
Thursday, November 3, 2005
BARRY ADAMS [EMAIL PROTECTED] 608-252-6148
TOWN OF ROXBURY
Less than 20 minutes.
That's all it takes to get from the Wisconsin River at Sauk City to Old Sauk Road on Madison's far West Side.
After almost 20 years of debate, intensive planning and three years of construction, the $126 million project that widened the highway to four lanes is nearly complete.
Officials will cut a ribbon today to ceremonially mark the road's completion, which won't be fully open until late next week.
Motorists using Highway 12 should no longer face backups from school buses or farm machinery.
The twists and steep hills that for decades punctuated the heavily used road have been straightened and graded away.
For town of Roxbury dairy farmer Kelly Breunig, the highway expansion has meant a loss of 16 acres of prime farmland. Now that the road is a divided four-lane highway, it's easier and safer to access his 140 acres across from the farm that has been in his family since the 1920s.
"It benefits everyone here," said Breunig, 36, who initially was against the expansion. "It had to come."
Talk of improvements to the highway began in the mid-1980s. Since then, the project has been approved by state officials, attacked by environmentalists and local farmers, rejected by the Dane County Board and initially opposed by Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.
The project's completion was even in doubt as late as this spring when the primary contractor, James Cape & Sons, went out of business. In May, Hoffman Construction of Black River Falls was hired by Cape's insurance company to take over the project, which benefited from an unusually dry summer and fall.
"The contractor performed quite admirably," said Curt Neuhauser, project manager for the state Department of Transportation. "Everything fell into place."
But with the battle to construct the highway won, the war to protect the rural corridor from strip malls, convenience stores, billboards and housing sprawl will likely never end for those in northwestern Dane County and southeastern Sauk County, officials said.
"It's going to be hard," said Jim Ripp, chairman of the town of Springfield, which abuts the city of Middleton. "We want to keep it as rural and scenic as possible. We want planned growth."
That's why the highway project, which also added three park and ride lots, nine miles of paved bike path and a bypass through Middleton, wasn't just about concrete, gravel and guardrails.
Under the terms of a 1999 agreement, forged by Falk with then-Gov. Tommy Thompson, the state provided $250,000 so that towns could develop smart growth plans that outline how and where development should occur.
The agreement also provided $5 million to help Dane County reduce the impact of sprawl through the purchase of development rights from landowners. The program pays cash and, in exchange, the landowner agrees not to develop the property.
"I think the towns have worked hard at it," Falk said of the smart growth plan process. "My goal was to try and ameliorate the potential development."
Three farms, totaling 328 acres, have used the development rights program and have been paid about $1.3 million. Falk announced Wednesday a proposal to use $165,000 to purchase a conservation easement on a 55-acre wooded tract from Ted Thousand and Darcy Love in the town of Roxbury.
Brett Hulsey, a member of the Dane County Board and Midwest representative for the Sierra Club, favored a two-lane improvement plan but calls the planning done prior to the construction "a real model for other transportation projects."
He questions, however, whether it will be strong enough to contain the pressure for growth.
"New highway building is the number one cause of sprawl development," Hulsey said. "This project did not warrant four lanes."
Joe Acker, who lives on Schneider Road in the town of Springfield, said he likes the four lanes but is concerned about the commercial development from nearby Middleton, which has been creeping toward his 121 acres for years.
Acker, 70, has received offers but has no plans to sell the farmstead established in 1893. He's not sure about others along the corridor.
"I feel it's just going to be temporary because there'll be so much pressure," said Acker, a retired communications specialist with the State Patrol.
But the development pressure is not limited to Dane County.
In Sauk County the cost of land has increased sharply.
Three years ago, lots for single family homes could be bought for $40,000 to $45,000. Now they're selling for $65,000 to $75,000, said Daleen Heffron, a real estate agent in the area for the past 30 years.
"Highway 12 was kind of a negative for a while and once (the construction) started I think we saw a lot more people that were willing to come west of Madison," Heffron said. "If you talk to the builders, they're all very busy."
Mike Slavney, one of the state's most prominent land-use planners, said the land-use planning around the highway project, which also included communities in Sauk County, is unlike anything he has seen anywhere in the country.
The highway project has sparked interest from Madison developers who are looking as far away as Baraboo for redevelopment projects.
"I think the perception about the ease of travel is more important than the reduction of time," said Slavney, principal planner for Vandewalle & Associates in Madison. "The communities have recognized they're going to have increased pressure."
Breunig, the town of Roxbury farmer, occasionally has people stop and ask if he's willing to sell chunks of land. He plans to reject offers and is hopeful his son, Trevor, 14, will someday become the fourth generation to run the dairy farm.
"I want to keep the country out in the country," Breunig said. "I don't want all those homes."
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2005:11:03:533301:FRONT
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