By Garrick Moritz, Gazette
As follow-up to last week’s article about the Palisades township road to the State Park and River Ridge Golf Course, our editor attended the township informational meeting that was held at the River Ridge clubhouse on May 24th.
“This project was a long time coming and had a lot of bumps in the road,” Oran Sorenson said. “And yes, to that pun. And we hope the wait is going to be worth it. We’re still going to push for an exit-only road from the State Park as they finish their expansion, as we love and support our local businesses and community. That said, it will be another year at least that our road will be the only entrance into the State Park. They’ve got a lot of work going on out there right now and there is much more to come.”
Craig Nussbuam took the floor and let people of the township know what to expect during the construction. As we reported last week, traffic will be limited to single-lane only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., typically Monday through Friday, with Saturdays if needed as the project goes on and depending on weather factors, but never on Sunday.
Maintaining the road will be the priority and the township board will have to stay vigilant as cracks and faults appear. But with good maintenance, they’re confident the road could be maintained for the long term, perhaps even 30 years.
A few other items were mentioned in the meeting. Jodi Larson, USPS rural mail carrier who also lives on this road, told the gathered citizens that mail delivery will continue as usual and as best they can during the construction.
“If I can reach your mailbox, I’ll do my best to get it to you and not interrupt any service,” she said. “If the mailbox or road is inaccessible we will hold your mail at the post office or you can have your mail placed on hold. We’ll do our best to work with you while this project is going on.”
There were other concerns regarding the state of culverts along the road, and the board was both aware of the concerns and as the contractor is working on the roads, so they will be checking them for stability and functionality as the project goes on.
Another topic that was discussed was a change in speed limit. The town board asked the gathered citizens about resetting the speed limit to 45 or even down to 35 mph. Generally, the people expressed their support for a lower speed limit. Likely, if the board decides to change it, they will have another meeting about the topic.
