Making Hoover Avenue into a county highway doesn't make as much sense as it once did, according to the Portage County Highway Committee.
"We're seeing growth on the eastern portion of the city limits that we didn't expect before," said Highway Commissioner William Weronke. "In my mind, and here's where I'm probably going to get shot, I think the jurisdictional transfer plan should be moved from Hoover (Road/Avenue) out to Eisenhower (Avenue) and Brilowski (Road)."
The County Board adopted the jurisdictional transfer plan in 1989, but when the Highway Commission sought to make Hoover into a county trunk about five years ago, residents along the road objected and said they didn't want truck traffic in their neighborhood, Weronke said.
An advantage of the Brilowski Road/Eisenhower Avenue corridor is the soon-to-be completed railroad overpass, Weronke said. Constructing a grade separation at the railroad tracks on Hoover Road would be a "major problem" because it could require purchasing land in the area, including a portion of the Stevens Point Country Club golf course.
The Brilowski Road/Eisenhower Avenue corridor provides better access to the Portage County Business Park, he said. It also doesn't make sense to have a county road where residents don't want truck traffic.
Town of Plover Chairman Robert Steinke, who is a member of the Highway Committee, said he doesn't have a problem with making the Brilowski/Eisenhower corridor a county highway. At the time objections were raised to Hoover, he suggested the county "take a strong look" at Eisenhower. The area is open, compared to all the homes along Hoover.
In his talks with village of Plover officials, they said they had no problem with moving the county trunk out to Brilowski/Eisenhower, but they want a cost share from the county for work on Hoover, Weronke said.
The county has paid for improvements on Hoover and Brilowski, even though they're not county roads.
When Hoover was widened to four lanes from the railroad tracks to Highway HH, it was a county project, Weronke said.
The county also paid for widening Brilowski in the city of Stevens Point, said Doug Warner, Highway Committee chairman.
County officials will need to sit down with representatives from the village of Plover, town of Plover and city of Stevens Point to "thrash it out" before any decisions can be made on changing the jurisdictional transfer, Weronke said.
Changing the county highway to Brilowski/Eisenhower could potentially take a $3 million grade separation project at the Hoover Road railroad crossing and place it "into the lap of the city Common Council," Portage County Planning and Zoning Director Charles Kell said.