1-16-20 highway 23 expansion project cost overruns

The Fond du Lac County executive is critical of a letter sent by a group of Republican state senators to the state DOT secretary expressing concern about  cost overruns for the Highway 23 expansion project.    The letter states the senators are deeply concerned  the $21 million increase is not an anomaly, but a warning sign of future unwarranted increases in construction projects across the state.  County executive Al  Buechel says there are a number of factors  for the increased cost,  none of  which are unwarranted in his opinion.   In addition to higher than  anticipated material costs, Buechel says crews ran into  problems because of the record wet weather and with the subsoil.  The subsoil is not firm enough to build a highway over so what they have to do is haul in fill to make the base a lot more firm so the highway doesn’t crack in short order,”  Buechel told WFDL news.  “…but also there’s been so much rain in the 2019 construction season.  There’s just a lot of things they had to compensate for.”   Buechel says nearly $2 million is included for the Plank (hiking/biking) Trail, which will run along the highway from Fond du Lac to Sheboygan.  Buechel says if the project had not been delayed by a federal lawsuit the cost would have been much lower.  Meanwhile, construction on the Fond du Lac County portion of the project is expected to begin this spring.
 

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