The Highway G Plan /Courtesy of Kenosha County (Click for larger view)

An intergovernmental agreement to transfer Highway K (60th Street), from 60th Avenue to I-94, and Highway G (30th Avenue), from Washington Road to Trunk Highway E, from the county to the city was announced Wednesday at a joint city-county press conference.

The agreement will allow the roads to be transferred in segments from Kenosha County to the City of Kenosha as improvements are made. Improvements will include increasing the two-lane rural roads to four-lane urban roads. The terms of agreement must be approved by the County Board and the Common Council.

“These are among the busiest county roads, and they have long outgrown a rural profile,” County Executive Jim Kreuser said. “As the improvements are made, those sections of road will be transferred to the city.”

Mayor Keith Bosman said, “The needed improvements will increase traffic safety and ease travel for residents and those needing to do business in those areas.”

The improvements to both roads will include the addition or extension of multi-use trails. Highway G will have a multi-use trail (for off-road bicycle and pedestrian traffic) added along the east side and sidewalks added along the west side. On Highway K, a multi-use path will be added to connect an existing sidewalk on the east side of Highway 31 through to Highway H. The new multi-use path will connect to a pedestrian path previously constructed by Kenosha Unified Schools adjacent to Indian Trail High School and Mahone Middle School.

The agreement also addresses the intersection at 39th Avenue and Highway L (18th Street) by transferring the jurisdiction to the city only for the determination of traffic controls. The city intends to study what, if any, additional traffic controls are needed as the result of connecting 39th Avenue through with Highway L. At a minimum, the city intends to install four-way stop signs at the intersection, which is currently a two-way stop for north-south bound traffic at 39th Avenue, as soon as jurisdiction is transferred.

Kenosha County will continue to maintain and plow the county portions of Highway L. The city is best positioned to make a determination on the appropriate traffic controls for that intersection given that it is within the city limits and the area is under the city’s purview for land use and other factors that impact traffic flow, Kreuser and Bosman said.

If the agreement is approved, construction is expected to begin in mid-June on Highway K from Highway 31 to the UP Railroad, and on Highway G (30th Avenue) from 15th Street to 18th Street, according to County Highway Commissioner Gary Sipsma.

A view of the Highway G multi-use path plan/Courtesy of Kenosha County (Click for larger view)