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County highway department reports steady pavement rating, safety gains and 2026 capital requests
Summary
Marathon County highway staff reported a maintained PACER pavement rating above 7, a 10.67% reduction in crashes from 2022–2024 after safety countermeasures, and listed capital improvement requests for 2026 including bridge projects, culvert replacements and a new asphalt paver.
County highway staff told the Infrastructure Committee that the county's pavement condition has held above the strategic-plan target and that several safety and capital projects are planned for 2026.
Highway staff reported the county’s overall pavement evaluation metric (PACER) has remained above a score of 7 in recent years. "In 2019 our PACER rating was 7.08... in 2023 we were at 7.05 and last year in 2024 we're at 7.27," staff said. Staff attributed part of the 2024 improvement to projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
On safety, staff said the county has implemented at least three Federal Highway Administration-recommended countermeasures from the 2021 roadway safety plan, including rumble strips, enhanced signage and wider pavement markings; staff reported a 10.67% reduction in crashes from 2022 to 2024. "We've done some shoulder widening... enhanced curve signage, and pavement-marking upgrades," staff said.
Staff also summarized 2026 capital requests. Bridge projects with substantial outside funding include Highway J (total project cost $2,500,000; county CIP request $506,302) and other bridge and roadway projects with county shares listed in the packet. The county expects to fund two large culvert replacements near the county line at an estimated $425,000, and staff requested a coverall building at Stratford to store solar salt at a quoted price of $127,625. For rolling stock, the county flagged an asphalt paver quote of $643,127 as a large purchase that could affect the rolling-stock budget if outside funding is not received.
Operational updates included a tank farm and brine-system improvements, planned milling operations to begin May 19 and continued bridge and sign maintenance. Staff described brine-production changes: the department now uses solar salt at a higher per-ton price but said the new salt reduces cleaning frequency for brine makers (staff reported they could go a full season without certain clean-outs under the new process).
