Traffic speeds on reconstructed Old Highway 70 remain a concern for residents

The Minocqua town board last week conducted the first reading of an ordinance amendment that would designate a 25 mile per hour speed limit for Old Highway 70 and Niemi Road. 

The speed limit reduction was formally requested at the town board’s Aug. 15 meeting by Minocqua resident Jesse Hartlep who began the discussion that meeting by complimenting the efforts to get the road reconstructed, a project completed earlier this summer, a project that included designated bike paths on both sides of the road. 

“The road is awesome,” he said at the Aug. 15 meeting. “Thanks to all involved.”

At the same time, however, Hartlep said the new pavement has encouraged more people to use the road as a short cut, avoiding the stop lights on State Highway 70. 

By the end of that discussion, the town board agreed to move forward with the ordinance amendment process, with the expectation that the new speed limit would be in effect by the first few days in October. 

At last week’s meeting, Niemi Road between State Highway 70 and Old Hwy. 70, at the suggestion of public works director Mark Pertile, was added to the proposed ordinance amendment. 

“Right now, there’s no designated speed (on Niemi Road) of 25,” town chairman Mark Hartzheim said. “So, technically speaking, that means 55 (miles per hour). Or it could mean that.”

He said Pertile wanted to bring Niemi Road to the town board’s attention and have it considered for addition to the town’s 25 mile per hour speed limit list. 

Hartlep said there’s a 20 mile per hour sign on Niemi Road. 

“We don’t have any roads designated 20 miles per hour in our ordinance,” Minocqua police chief Dave Jaeger said. “So those signs can’t be enforced. We get it on the 25 mile per hour, then we have something to enforce.”

“It’s just consistent,” Pertile said. “There’s a school zone there and you can’t get the speed up on Niemi that you can on Old Hwy. 70 because of the S curves throughout that section. It’ll just keep it consistent the whole way.”

Hartzheim asked if anyone in the audience would like to provide input and Cynthia Wills, who said she lives at the corner of Old Hwy. 70 and Dr. Pink Drive, also said she’s seen “four accidents in the last four years at that corner ... that curve.”

“That speed limit, they do not, I mean, they do not go 30 miles an hour through there at all,” she said. “It’s always higher ... they come around that curve there at Dr. Pink and (Old Hwy.) 70, lickety-split. They don’t slow down and they end up in that old swamp on the left-hand side that’s there.”

Wills said just a couple of nights before the meeting, an accident in which had the driver attained “a little higher speed, they would have been in my back yard” occurred.

“That’s how close they come,” she said. 

Town supervisor Billy Fried mentioned the police department’s speed limit monitoring trailer was now on Old Hwy. 70. 

“We put the speed board out there periodically but does it work?” Jaeger asked. “Sometimes yes, sometimes no. A lot of the issues we have on that street are alcohol related.”

He said he drives on Old Hwy. 70 regularly “throughout my shift” and during the day, Jaeger said he’s not seeing “any extremes.”

“Then again, they don’t do it when we’re around,” he said. “So, I don’t know what the answer is to that road. I understand where her (Wills) concerns are, being now the road’s a little bit wider, it lends itself to a little higher speeds.”

Jaeger said law enforcement was dealing with speeding issues on Old Hwy. 70 before this year’s improvement project. 

“I have a feeling we’re going to continue to deal with them,” he said. “I just don’t know what the answer is other than, you know, we patrol through there. Minus anything that we respond to, we try to get through there when we can.”

Jaeger reiterated he was supportive of the proposed speed limit reduction. 

In her comments earlier, Wills had mentioned erecting a guardrail which Pertile said he wouldn’t recommend. 

“We are gonna sign,” he said. “There will be additional signs throughout the project. We have the posts in place and 25 mile an hour signs ready to go.”

Pertile said the plan was to also erect pedestrian signs “throughout the corridor” and mentioned the signs on Dr. Pink Drive and how bright they were when the headlights of vehicles would shine on them.

“We were getting so many complaints about at night, they’re so bright,” he said. “After awhile, it kind of went away but it does slow people down. Same thing on Squirrel Lake Road. Just sign the heck out of it and on these corners, it catches peoples’ attention but in all situations, is it gonna fix the problem? Probably not but it’s hopefully gonna slow down 80 percent of the night time traffic.”

Other matters

The town board also at its Sept. 19 meeting:

• Approved a conditional use permit (CUP) application from Kristin Lenz to operated a twice monthly outdoor market on a parcel of property next to White Arrows Home on Minocqua’s south side. That CUP now goes to the Oneida County planning and zoning committee for consideration. 

• Conducted the first reading of an amendment that would add South Ridgeway and the first 400 feet of Curtis Lake Drive to the town’s road weight restriction ordinance. 

• Approved bids of $31,200 from Northland Overhead Doors for six garage doors and $45,393 from S.D. Ellenbecker for a 40 foot by 70 foot concrete slab as part of a town garage improvement project on Gun Club Road. 

• Approved a Class B liquor license application from Enrique Lopez Leon who is going to operate a Mexican restaurant in the former Wild Turkey building. Leon has already paid the $10,000 for the liquor license the town board approved for the former Burger King on U.S. Highway 51 but since then, Leon’s location plans have changed.

• Approved a picnic license application from the Lakeland Hawks for a location on Front Street during Beef-A-Rama. 

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].