VIROQUA, Wis. – The Vernon County County Highway Safety Committee met on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office. The Highway Safety Committee is an advisory committee to the Sheriff’s Office consisting of local, county and state officials that meets quarterly to discuss local transportation issues.
The Highway Safety Committee members include:
- Vernon County Board member – David Eggen – Chair
- Vernon County Sheriff’s Office – Sheriff Roy Torgerson
- State Highway Patrol – Luke Yahn
- Viroqua Police Chief – Rick Neidfeldt
- Vernon County Highway Commissioner – Phil Hewitt
- Dept. of Transportation Rep. – Brad Byom
- Dept. of Transportation Safety Reports – Todd Horn
- Vernon Memorial Hospital – David Hartberg
- School Issues – School Official – Tom Burkhalter
- Vernon County Emergency Management Director– Brandon Larson
- Media – Tim Hundt – VernonReporter.Com
Viroqua Police Chief Rick Niedfeldt reported to the committee that the traffic realignment project through downtown Viroqua is not completed and had to be halted due to cold weather, but there has already been a significant drop in crashes due to the changes so far.
The city of Viroqua has been undertaking a two year project to realign traffic patterns on Main Street. The first year switched the northern and southern portions of Main Street from four lanes to three with a middle turn lane (twiddle). The second portion focused on downtown moving one traffic light farther south, adding bumpouts for pedestrian crossing and changing some side streets to one way to eliminate left turns.
“Right before we did it (the realignment) in 2022 we had 317 crashes in the city of Viroqua,” said Niedfeldt. “Over 114 of them were on Main Street. So, out of those, most of those, I can tell you right now, most of those are rear end crashes. Like Culver’s, Walgreens, McDonald’s, probably that area saw the most. We have had zero accidents, rear end accidents on Main Street, zero. We’ve had close calls, but we have not had a pedestrian or bike accident since the twiddle.”
Niedfeldt said they had seven pedestrian related incidents in the year before the change, and the changes have helped with safety tremendously.
“Oh my gosh its helped,” said Niedfeldt.
Niedfeldt said the biggest complaint he used to hear is that people were going too fast through town, and now it is the opposite.
“We used to hear everyone’s flying through town, we’re getting the opposite now,” said Niedfeldt. “I actually like hearing everyone’s driving too slow. It takes too long to get through through Viroqua. That’s good. That’s winning. Everyone’s going too slow because you can’t pass. So once you kind of educate them of a little bit of why. No, that’s worth it wholeheartedly.”
Niedfeldt said now that people are used to the twiddle (middle lane) and know how to use it, things have calmed down. Niedfeldt said the change has been so successful that a recent speed reduction projected funded with a joint grant with Westby and Hillsboro yielded no tickets on Main Street.
“I had almost 200 man hours,” said Niedfeldt. “We found zero citations, and we were supposed to do 14. We had zero citations and violations on Main Street. They had to find the speed off of different highways just because we know everyone’s going speed limit or lower (on Main Street). That’s what we want to see.”
Niedfeldt said he is excited for the completion of the downtown bump outs that will make it easier for pedestrians to cross the highway because they will only be crossing two lanes.
“Yeah, I can’t even wait for the bump outs,” Niedfeldt said. “Just for people to see past that car, because that’s what scares me. That’s why I pushed it so hard.”
Niedfeldt also reported they had asked the DOT to look at reducing the speed on the south end of the city near the gold course entrance. Niedfeldt reported that the DOT did do a speed study in that area and determined that a speed reduction was not warranted. Niedfeldt said they recently lowered the speed limit on the north end of Main Street from about Associated Bank to the traffic lights to 35 miles per hour.
Niedfeldt also said the city had submitted a request to the state DOT to put in a traffic signal on Main Street at the intersection with Walmart. That application was submitted last year and Niedfeldt said the DOT has given them positive feedback on the proposal so far, and they are hopeful that project will be approved. A DOT representative at the meeting said if that signal is approved it would likely be scheduled for construction in 2027.
The work would likely be done in conjunction with the development of the “Hanson” farm directly across from Walmart. The city and the Viroqua Development Association have approved a plan to develop that 23 acre parcel that could include up to 200 housing units and several commercial lots. That plan calls for a new street that would run from the Walmart entrance across that development to Chicago Avenue. The preliminary estimate on the cost in install a traffic signal at that intersection was around $800,000. Preliminary work on infrastructure for that development could start this year.
Niedfledt also reported the issues surrounding congestion at the pickup area by the Viroqua High School/Middle School have been ironed out. The pick up area was backing up at various times causing cars to line up on Broadway Street (State Highway 56) that was creating pedestrian safety concerns. Niedfeldt stated he had conversations with the school and some parents and the situation has improved, but more improvements are being considered.
Sheriff Torgerson asks for wider shoulders for Amish buggies
Sheriff Roy Torgerson asked DOT representatives to look into whether there could be a way to add a wider shoulder to some areas of state highways. Torgerson pointed to recent head on crash between a car and buggy that resulted in a fatality. There were other circumstances involvved in that accident, but Torgerson said many of the buggy crashes will likely be alleviated if there were a wider shoulder for them to travel on in key areas. Torgerson said they are seeing more compliance with requirements that buggies have lighting on them, with some resistance to the lights in some areas of the county.
“I think we could find some room to put in some wider shoulders here and there for because there’s a lot of horse drawn buggy traffic in that area,” said Torgerson “I’m not against paving the gravel shoulder of highway 14, but it’s nice and wide already. I’d rather see a little money put into these real narrow highways, rather than put all that money into highway 14.”
Torgerson said in the last quarter of the year the county saw 352 crashes, one fatal, injury crashes were at 40, non-injury crashes 311, and 147 deer related crashes.
Sheriff requests speed reduction near Kickapoo High School
Sheriff Torgerson asked the DOT to reconsider reducing the speed on State Highway 131 in the area of the Kickapoo High School. The DOT had previously denied a request for a reduction in that area. Torgerson indicated that the school has students on both sides of the highway, so they are hoping to get a speed reduction, at least as far as the 90-degree curve south of the school, to improve student safety in that area.
Emergency Management holds media workshop to discuss disaster communications
Vernon County Emergency Management Director Brandon Larson reported that he held a media workshop in December. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss where the public can get information during emergencies or disasters, and to position the county website as the trusted source for up-to-date and accurate information. Larson said incidents like the hurricane and flooding in North Carolina highlight the need for sources of information that public knows they can trust and is reliable.
Larson said the goal was to ensure the media has a single point of contact to get information, rather than relying on potentially outdated or inaccurate information from other sources. He envisions having a dedicated button on the county website’s homepage that would direct people to the latest emergency-related resources and updates.
County receives speed board for speed reduction project
Torgerson also announced the Sheriff’s Office had just taken delivery of a new “speed board” that was funded through a state grant to help reduce speed in identified hotspots. The WisDOT Predictive Analytics Crash Reduction Project allows selected traffic safety committees and commissions to create a project that reduces the frequency and severity of crashes in identified “hotspot” locations.
The Highway Safety Committee has identified five “hotspots” within Vernon County to concentrate it’s efforts-
1. State Highway 56, Town of Viroqua, between “Bud” and “Liberty”
2. County Road P, Town of Christiana, between State Highway 27 & Knapp Valley Rd
3. US Highway 14, City/Town of Viroqua, between W Broadway St & County Road T
4. US Highway 14, Town of Christiana/Coon, between Westby & Coon Valley
5. State Highway 131, Town of Kickapoo, between County Road S & S Wagoner Ave
Sheriff Torgerson said said the Sheriff’s Office will focus on reducing the number of speed-related crashes in these areas in the coming days/weeks and you can expect to see increased law enforcement patrols in the “hotspot” areas during high crash time periods.
Torgerson said there was no specific dollar amount with the grant, but the mobile speed board cost about $20,000, and the Sheriff’s Office will be reimbursed for the cost to patrol those specific hotspots once the project period has ended.
The meeting date for the Highway Safety Committee is April 2, at 1:30 p.m.
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