An interactive map online shows details of county highway projects.
Waupaca County plans about 20 miles of capital road projects over the next six years. The map presents these future projects, as well as projects from the past 10 years.
Using the map, citizens can locate past and future road construction projects, learn the associated costs for most projects and see photos of roads that are either in disrepair or have been rebuilt.
Future road projects are indicated in orange and past projects are indicated in blue.
For example, a major project is planned on County Road I near Clintonville. The road appears orange and when a visitor clicks it, a gray box pops up with details about the project. About four miles of roadway will be rebuilt from U.S. Highway 45 east to County Road Y at a cost of nearly $2.6 million. The project is scheduled for completion in 2015.
The remainder of County I, going east to the Shawano County line, is planned for construction the following year at a projected cost of $3.62 million.
For some projects, a viewer can click “zoom to” in the gray pop up and a camera icon will appear. Clicking the camera icon will allow a visitor to see a photo of the road. There is a photo of a curve on County I west of County Y. The road is cracked and patched with narrow, dirt shoulders. Asphalt has broken off the edge of the intersection. There are no white lines on the edge of the road, even though it is a sharp curve in an unlighted rural area.
On the map there is a four-mile segment of County Road O that is blue. Located between County Road T and U.S. 45 south of Clintonville, County O was reconstructed in 2009. The project cost was just under $4.2 million.
A photo of a curve in County O south of Brandy Creek Road shows what the county believes its highways should look like.
The road is smooth and white lines clearly indicate the edges of the road. The pavement extends beyond the white lines, making the road’s shoulder safer for pedestrians and cyclists to use. A paved shoulder is also safer for motorists if they drift too far to the right while negotiating a curve. There is more distance between the road and the ditch line, which means motorists who do go off the road are less likely to flip their vehicles.
The county map also provides a feature that allows a visitor to the site to see county road projects over time.
Click the clock icon at the top of the map and a timeline pops up. It starts in 1991 with none of the county roads marked as blue or orange. Click the arrow and the blue lines begin appearing for completed projects. In 1992, County Road E was rebuilt from Ebbe Lake Road to Granite Quarry Road in the town of Waupaca. The cost was less than $450,000.
As the timeline continues forward, more blue lines appear until the years go beyond 2011 and show orange lines indicating future projects.
A summary of annual highway project costs can also be found on the site. It shows that county highway spending averaged well below $1 million per year in the 1990s, then rose to $2.65 million in 2001 and $3.52 million in 2002.
The county’s spending on capital road projects spiked at $5.15 million in 2009, dropped to just over $1 million in 2010 and is then projected to rise to $4.65 million in 2011, according to the information provided by the map.
To find the map, go to www.co.waupaca.wi.us. Scroll down to the bottom right hand corner of the home page and click Property/GIS Maps, which is a link to the Waupaca County Land Information Office. Under Mapping Sites, click Capital Projects Viewer.
The online map is also available at http://public1.co.waupaca.wi.us/GISviewer/index.html?config=config_capital.xml
Ian Grasshoff, a county geographical information systems analyst, and Lisa Coombs, an engineering specialist with the Waupaca County Highway Department, created the map.