Chippewa County board pledges local share for first phase of Highway T expansion after debate

The Chippewa County Board of Supervisors voted Feb. 11 to pledge local funding toward phase 1 of a planned four‑lane expansion of County Highway T following presentations from highway staff and nearly two hours of public and supervisor debate.

The board approved a resolution committing Chippewa County to pay roughly 32.67% of the local share of phase 1 costs, with the county’s estimated portion of the current local cost range stated in the resolution as between $1.3 million and $2.2 million. The motion passed on a 14–6 vote.

The vote came after Highway Commissioner Brian Kelly presented updated 30% design plans and a cost estimate for phase 1, which covers the northern end near 29 Pines south toward Seventeenth Avenue. Kelly said the corridor serves about 8,000 vehicles per day now and traffic engineers project growth to 16,000 daily trips in 10 years, which he said supports building a divided four‑lane roadway with a raised median, bike/pedestrian accommodations and roundabouts at major intersections.

“Generally, if what they're telling us is if it's 10 to 15,000 cars a day, you really should be designing it for four lanes,” Kelly said during the presentation. He said stakeholders decided to build phase 1 from the north end southward, and that the current best estimate for design and construction of phase 1 is about $16.8 million (the resolution uses $17 million as a planning figure).

Supporters said passing the pledge now keeps $10 million in discretionary federal funds from being lost and improves the county’s ability to buy right of way and submit competitive grant applications. Supervisor Birchman said the federal allocation makes this the lowest cost‑share the county is likely to see for the project. “This will be the lowest impact to the taxpayer of Chippewa County that we will have an opportunity in the next 10 years,” Birchman said.

Opponents warned about potential annexation by the City of Eau Claire, loss of town control, impacts on long‑standing rural properties and the strain of adding maintenance miles to the county highway system. Supervisor Sedlets, representing Wheaton Township concerns, said residents do not want highway setbacks that would affect properties near the corridor and argued the project primarily benefits development that will be annexed into Eau Claire. “The Township of Wheaton, we need it,” Sedlets said, but added, “I’m totally against this.”

Kelly and other staff answered questions about maintenance costs and revenue sources if the county maintains the widened road. He said the county would receive additional general transportation aids for added lane miles but acknowledged the project increases the number of miles the highway department must maintain and that the county is pursuing a possible jurisdictional transfer to the state in the future.

The board’s adopted funding plan spreads the county share across sales tax receipts, bonding and reassigned levy from projects previously funded with ARPA. The schedule in the presentation shows right‑of‑way acquisition in 2025, final design in 2026, and construction targeted for 2027–2028; the board placed specific sales tax and bonding amounts in the highway CIP across 2026–2030 to fund obligations tied to phase 1 and to allow completion of the county’s planned Highway M bridge replacement.

The resolution also directs the county administrator and highway commissioner to sign a five‑party intergovernmental agreement among Chippewa County, Eau Claire County, the City of Eau Claire and the towns of Union and Wheaton. The board approved that action as part of the pledge.

Board members were explicit that the pledge covers only phase 1 local costs and does not bind the county to fixed shares for future phases 2 and 3; Kelly said future phases will require separate funding decisions and negotiations among stakeholders. He also reiterated that Eau Claire County is serving as the lead applicant for grants and that the CDS discretionary funds are conditioned on using the money for this corridor.

Votes at the meeting: the resolution pledging phase 1 local funding passed 14–6.

Ending: County staff said they will continue pursuing state and federal grants and will provide annual updates through the capital improvement budget process. The highway department will start right‑of‑way acquisitions this year if the funding plan proceeds as scheduled.