Opposition yields no U-turn on Hwy. 51/County Hwy. K roundabout Plan

Staff with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) have made the determination to move forward with construction of a single-lane roundabout at the intersection of U.S. Highway 51 and Swamp Lake Road and County Highway K in Harshaw.

The final scheduled public information meeting for a reconstruction of the intersection was held on Oct. 14 at Harshaw’s Northwoods Community Elementary School. 

There initially had been three proposals for the intersection’s reconstruction, two of them involving enhanced turning lanes along with the roundabout, in an effort to reduce the number of serious crashes and fatalities at the location. 

Project manager Stacy Hagenbucher said 105 people attended the Oct. 14 meeting, approximately 75 of them indicating they were against the roundabout option and the rest in favor.

In addition, area town boards, including Cassian and Nokomis, took formal stances in opposition to the roundabout. 

Hagenbucher acknowledged the number of people in opposition but said since the project was introduced in 2024, there had been several people sending input for support of the Hwy. 51 roundabout to the DOT. 

“The largest concern is the backup in traffic that people are afraid are going to occur due to heavy weekend traffic,” she said. “We have reviewed and analyzed the traffic flow through there, we’ve done traffic counts on the heavy weekends the past few years. We can say through these models that we will not be impacting it. We won’t be making it worse.”

Traffic through that section of Hwy. 51, Hagenbucher said, is already traveling slow on holiday weekends. 

“The roundabout is showing to not be making it worse,” she said. “The project is focused on safety. There’s been several deaths at this intersection. We are trying to make this intersection safer and not trying to improve operations.”

Hagenbucher was asked about the next intersection to the south on Hwy. 51 with County Highway L; there have been accidents there, people noted. 

The difference, she said, is the Hwy. 51 and Hwy. K/Swamp Lake Road intersection is a safety improvement project. 

“There’s special funding for safety improvement projects,” Hagenbucher said. “The reason this is eligible is because there’s been deaths at this intersection. It raises flags and requires a need. There are not those flags at Hwy. L.”

The timeline for the project from this point forward is the design phase which ends on Aug. 1, 2026, when the project is let out for bidding with construction set for the spring and summer of 2027. 

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