April 14, 2026
VIROQUA Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is exploring a preliminary plan to dramatically change traffic flow on the south end of Viroqua along State Highway 14 and US Highway 61. The state is responding to long standing complaints about excessive speeds on that end of town and the significant difficulty motorists face when trying to safely pull out of the local golf course.
The plan is just a preliminary proposal from the DOT which the city of Viroqua has not yet had a chance to review. The plan would extend the three lane traffic design known as the “twiddle”, or center turn lane from downtown all the way south to County Highway J. The plan would eliminate one of the two lanes or the “climbing lane” on the hill coming into Viroqua from the south to create the center turn lane.
Department of Transportation Traffic Safety Engineer Brad Byom unveiled the draft proposal to the Vernon County Highway Safety Committee during its April 1 meeting. Byom explained that the project aims to smooth out the speed limit transitions and create a safer dedicated turn space.
“We have got a 35 mile an hour zone and a 25 mile an hour zone that do not really line up that well,” said Byom. “In terms of speed limit we are looking at making this a 45 mile per hour zone all the way from county J up to FS drive.”
Sheriff Roy Torgerson reminded the committee that the entire discussion originated from citizens raising alarms about the dangers of the golf course exit.
“This whole discussion here at least that this committee came up because of complaints from people pulling out of the golf course,” said Torgerson. “Because you got a curve and limited sight distance and high speed.”
Some on the committee raised concerns that the elimination could create a problem for drivers trying to exit Hwy 14 onto South Washington near the VFW. Byom acknowledged that South Washington is not a good intersection in terms of safety and that the state is open to making adjustments.
Viroqua Schools Adminstrator Jeremy Hill raised a similar concern regarding the intersection at County Highway J at the very bottom of the hill. Hill worried that removing the extra lane would lead to dangerous rear end collisions when school buses and cars try to turn right onto Highway J.
“My bigger concern is if you take that truck lane out when you are turning right on to J coming out of coming south out of town people are barreling down that road behind you,” said Hill. “It is worrisome to me if we take away a place for somebody coming down the hill to go around somebody turning right.”
Byom agreed that an eastbound right turn lane should be added at County Highway J to mirror the safety improvements happening elsewhere.
“You are absolutely right,” said Byom. “I am going to add a comment in here and we need to mark a right turn lane.”
However Byom noted that adding turn lanes requires widening the roadway which falls outside the scope of a simple pavement marking project. The state is currently trying to expedite the twiddle extension by implementing it as a standalone signing and marking project in 2027. He suggested they could potentially tie the right turn lane construction into a larger paving and intersection project planned for the nearby County Highway SS intersection in 2028 or 2030.
The discussion of the County Highway SS intersection prompted Sheriff Torgerson to suggest a much larger infrastructure change. Torgerson suggested the state should consider closing County Highway J at the State Highway 14 and put a roundabout at County Highway SS.
Byom said he was open to the idea of a roundabout but explained that it must meet a strict benefit cost ratio to qualify for federal safety funding.
“I do love the idea of doing a roundabout at double S instead,” said Byom. “To build a $2 million dollar roundabout might not be possible here, but I do love the idea and I am going to take it back to the region and see if we can entertain that.”
Byom added that the state recently received new guidelines that lower the required benefit cost ratio for Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) hot spots making a roundabout more feasible than it was in the past.
With the proposal still in its early stages the committee agreed that the state will need to hold a formal public information meeting before moving forward with any changes. Byom promised to update the committee on the roundabout possibility and the public input process at their next monthly meeting.
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