Feb. 5, 2024 12:30p
(WGTD)---Both the Somers Village Board and the Kenosha County Board have passed resolutions urging the state Department of Transportation not to turn the four-lane Sheridan Road between Kenosha and Racine into a two-lane highway. Yet that’s exactly what the D-O-T wants to do.
D-O-T officials believe that’s the best way to cut down on crashes and make the stretch of highway safer.
The state’s plan—recently unveiled—involves the installation of center left turn lanes and bicycle lanes while at the same time resurfacing the road.
They also want to lower the speed limit from 45 to 40 miles per hour. The latter is something that Somers officials say they can support. But they’re vehemently against reducing the traffic flow to one lane in either direction. T
he matter is expected to come up for village board discussion Tuesday night.
In an atempt to overturn the decision, the village is enlisting the help of local legislators.
Over the past five years, 300 crashes have occurred on the highway in which five people died. Three of those that were killed were either bicyclists or pedestrians.
In opposing a two-lane highway, village officials argue that the causes of the accidents have to do more with excessive speed and alcohol than the design of the highway.
The reconstruction project could start as early as 2027.
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