DOT Secretary Craig Thompson, left, Pelican Town Chair and Fire Chief Craig Hollands, Oneida County Highway Commissioner Alex Hegeman and Gov. Tony Evers are pictured last week at the Pelican Town Hall. Evers and Thompson stopped to talk about federally funded road projects on the schedule for Oneida County. Star Journal photos

County highway projects catch Governor’s eye

By Eileen Persike

Editor

RHINELANDER – The Oneida County Highway Commissioner is, as the saying goes, making hay while the sun shines. In the less than three-and-a-half years since Alex Hegeman has been in charge, the county has been approved for seven different federally-funded county highway projects.

Hegeman, a civil engineer who worked on the County Highway Department crew, then as a local program manager for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, returned to the county with a familiarity of state and federal funding and a list of contacts at the DOT.

“I definitely feel like we have a slight advantage that way, so I’m just trying to use it to our benefit,” Hegeman said.

In addition to Hegeman’s efforts, the projects are also due in part to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill signed by President Biden in 2021.

 “There’s a lot of money coming to Oneida County and that doesn’t include several town projects and I think the city’s gotten two projects, as well,” Hegeman said. Governor Tony Evers met with Hegeman last week to talk about the upcoming work.

 “So, between roads and bridges, it’s great that Oneida County’s been on the receiving end of a lot of this funding,” Hegeman noted. “It’s great that [the Governor has] been able to come out and take a look at one of the projects first hand.”

The main reason for the Governor’s visit was to look at Co. Hwy P. This section of road was just approved for some funding through the Surface Transportation Grant that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation administers. The objective of the STP grants is to improve federal aid-eligible highways outside of urban areas. Projects must meet federal and state requirements. According to the DOT, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has significantly increased program funding levels.

“We have two different projects approved in two different funding cycles,” Hegeman explained. “[There’s] a small project from Eisenhower to Faust Lake Road for 2027. And then we have another project from Faust Lake to Highway 8 and that’s scheduled for 2028.”

The county will be using Cold-in-Place recycling on Co. Hwy P. It’s something the DOT has been doing over the last several years, Hegeman said, but it’s new to Oneida County. CIR is a method of removing and reusing the existing asphalt surface by grinding off the top several inches and mixing the crushed asphalt with an asphalt recycling agent and placing it back down with a paver.

“One of the reasons to do this is that a lot of times when you do a simple mill-and-overlay, where you just mill off two or three inches and put two or three inches of asphalt back, is the cracks from the asphalt that is left there reflect through the new surface. With the Cold-in-Place recycling, that recycled layer is a little bit more flexible so it will help to stop those cracks from coming right through the new surface,” Hegeman said.

Evers said “safer and better roads” are necessary for a strong economy.

“We’re able to provide a lot more repair around the state because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill,” Evers said. “It’s a Huge, huge win for us, in the neighborhood of 20% more roads being done than before and people are taking advantage of it and they should.

“Townships are stepping up, counties are stepping up and they talk about the fact that they haven’t had the resources for years and years and now they have them,” Evers continued.

Projects that are eligible for federal funding must go through a full design process, including getting a consultant on board and a full environmental document, among other steps.

“There’s a lot of coordination with utilities, the DNR, a lot of different steps to the process, which is why it takes a few years, but, well worth it in the end,” Hegeman said.