The target date for construction is almost a decade away, but the state Department of Transportation is under pressure to accelerate planning on the eastern end of the Stevens Point Highway 10 bypass. It could finish it in three to five years, according to Randy Fuchs of Earth Tech, Madison, the consultant on the project.
Planning is moving faster at the west end. The project extends from Trestik Road west of Junction City to County Highway K east of Custer.
The heat at the east end is coming from private individuals and from public officials who are saying the dragged-out process is making planning difficult. "A lot of people would like to speed up the project," Fuchs said, telling people in the audience that if they felt that way, they should say so on a comment form distributed at the hearing.
The DOT held a public information meeting on the project Wednesday at Jefferson School. Fuchs said a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) should be completed by August and, after a 30-day review period, a hearing will be held, probably in October, to give the public an opportunity to comment.
The EIS will be more detailed west of Interstate 39 than east of it, said Fuchs. The final EIS is due in July 2002, and the start of construction on the west is scheduled for the summer of 2010. No date is set for beginning east of I-39.
Key decisions are pending. For one, a place to cross the Wisconsin River north of Stevens Point needs to be chosen. Under consideration are one near County Highway X and another, still farther north, at Mayflower Road.
West of the river, eight alternative routes are still being looked at, with the possibility of another, Oak Hill Road, being added.
East of the river, still in the running are three routes crossing the Plover River, a couple connecting to I-39 at or near the County Highway HH interchange, and existing Highway 10.
Meanwhile, said Fuchs, "We're out in the field collecting data," both archeological and biological.