The reconstruction of Columbia Street in Oconto Falls could begin as soon as February, City Administrator Peter Wills told the city council Jan. 14.
Dorner Inc. of Green Bay is the main contractor on the project, which involves the complete reconstruction of the street including pavement, water mains, and sanitary and storm sewers, along with sidewalks along one side of the street, which will lead to three schools once the new Oconto Falls Middle School is completed next year.
The effort also includes reconstruction of a sewer lift station by Advance Construction of Howard. Wills said Advance has notified the city it wants to start next month, while Dorner has indicated it expects to get started in March.
The early start is affected by the city’s Aug. 29 deadline to complete the work in time for the 2025-26 academic year and the opening of the middle school.
Crews expect to begin work on the west end of the project, where Columbia Street intersects with Chestnut and Union avenues. During the work, traffic will be detoured along Chestnut and Union, which are part of state Highway 22, as well as South Main Street and North Farm Road, Wills said.
“We don’t want the (school) buses going on any of those interior streets — Wisconsin, Milwaukee, any of that stuff,” Wills said. “We’re really trying to keep everything to Chestnut, County I and South Main.”
Greg Kuhn, general manager of Oconto Falls Municipal Utilities, said a meeting is planned toward the end of the month to have all the parties and the school involved. A letter is expected to go out to residents of Columbia and various side streets to give them an approximate time line for the project.
“In that letter we are specifically calling out that it’s closed to through traffic, local traffic only,” Kuhn said. “I put in the letter, or in our update on the website, that we’re going to monitor it, and if we catch people just blowing through there, there’s going to be tickets issued, because we don’t need that to become the norm in the construction site.”
The total cost of the project is estimated around $2.78 million. Part of the cost is being paid by the state Department of Administration with $1 million of federal funding through the Community Development Block Grant program.
The project will include sidewalks on the south side of the street from Chestnut to Farm, connecting to existing sidewalks.
wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com
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