City of Rhinelander moves forward with West Hill Walking Path

Several Rhinelander city residents have championed the creation of what has become known as the West Hill Walking Path, a walking path that would allow safe walking to downtown and, indeed, the rest of the city, to residents on the far west side, around West Hill Road. Residents in that part of the city have called for a walking path for a few years, and the idea was considered at the most recent Rhinelander city council meeting, with council members asking for the matter to be moved forward.

“Almost four years ago when my oldest son was born, I quickly realized if I wanted to go for a walk with him in the stroller, or go on a bike ride with him, there was no safe way to do that,” said Rhinelander resident Ben Meyer. “The only way to access the rest of our city is Davenport Street.” That street, being heavily traveled and without sidewalks, is dangerous for walking, and leaves pedestrians and other non-motorized traffic somewhat cut off from the rest of the city, he said.

“If Rhinelander wants to be welcoming to young families like mine and be where young families like mine and business owners want to come, want to stay, want to keep their families, it’s projects like these that make Rhinelander an attractive place to be,” Meyer said. “A walkable, bikeable community is an attractive place to be and live.”

City administrator Patrick Reagan provided the proposed map at the council meeting and mentioned a comment from a previous meeting where a person in a motorized wheelchair was traveling down Davenport Street due to lack of a sidewalk. With that in mind, he said, he would be against a gravel path, which was an option proposed. He said he would be in favor of an asphalt path for the sake of travelability. He also suggested lighting the path.

Mark Barden of Town and Country Engineering said paving the area that was not proposed to be boardwalk in one option would be $5,000 to $10,000. The other option, which was proposed to be all gravel, would be $40,000 to $45,000 to completely pave. The lighting, he said, he thought would be appropriate at 100-foot spacing. The light poles and the base would be $4,000 to $5,000 a piece, and the space would require 19 lights. These costs did not including conduit, wiring and design. 

Mayor Kris Hanus said his rough calculations brought the project with the boardwalk up to somewhere around $125,000, and the second option up to somewhere near $180,000 to $200,000. 

Barden said stewardship funding would probably be the best avenue when looking for funding to help complete this path. He said it would be more beneficial to apply for that funding for the longer path.

He said the stewardship funding would cover the additional requirements of an ADA-compliant path, however none of the grades had been shot yet, and a hill there may make it more difficult. Barden added that the boardwalk path option could also be made ADA-compliant with some additions. He also suggested to bid out all of the project, rather than to have the city do part of the work and a contractor perform the rest of the work. 

“I truly feel that we need to have this move forward for safety’s sake,” council member Carrie Mikalauski said. “If something were to happen to somebody and we’re squabbling over a couple thousand dollars, I think somebody’s life is a little more to appreciate than that. I’m just looking for guidance as to how to make this move forward.”

Barden said the first step would be for the council to decide which option they would like to move forward. Once they did that, he would apply for stewardship funding, looking at getting the project done in 2026. 

Council member Steven Jopek said he would like to see a public listening session on the matter before choosing an option. Upkeep and maintenance of the two options would differ, with the boards of the board walk not lasting as long as a paved path.

Hanus said the city was already struggling to figure out how to improve walkability on Coolidge. He said he did not want to put out an “either/or” scenario, and felt the matter was important, but when looking at the big picture of making the town safer and more walkable, he wanted the council to keep in mind the projects the city was undertaking and the limits of their funding. 

Jopek had brought up the idea of completing the project in phases. Doing that, she said, may increase the overall cost, the smaller pieces may make it easier from a budgetary standpoint each year.

Mikalauski said she was in favor of the boardwalk option. It is a shorter path, a less expensive project, and the city already owns the property where it would be built. She moved to have the city engineer put out bids and look for funding for the boardwalk option. She said this project had been “kicked down the road” for four years, and if there was a grant mechanism that could pay for the project, she wanted to see it get underway. 

That motion passed.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].