Hortonville board reviews Main and Nash redesign amid pedestrian and signage concerns

Trustees of the Village of Hortonville on Sept. 18 reviewed a county engineer’s preliminary design for the Main and Nash Street intersection planned for 2026 reconstruction, and several trustees and residents raised safety and signage concerns, particularly for pedestrians and school crossing routes.

The design presented would add a right-turn lane to northbound traffic by acquiring a small parcel across from the bowling alley, and reduce some four‑lane segments to single lanes, the board was told. Officials said the changes are intended to simplify traffic movements and shorten crossing distances for pedestrians.

Residents and trustees pressed for clarity about how the new right-turn lane would be controlled. One trustee asked whether the new right-turn lane would be governed by a stop sign or a yield sign; board members and the police chief said the county’s current design had not finalized sign placement. The chief and several trustees said a yield for the turn lane could create problems for crossing guards and schoolchildren if drivers did not stop.

Trustees also asked whether the plan would remove parking on the north side of Main Street near the empty lot and in front of local businesses, and whether the project would add a buffer between sidewalks and traffic. The board was told engineers included a bump‑out in parts of the design and that in some places the design provides a terrace to separate pedestrians from moving vehicles, but parking impacts near Claire’s Place and other storefronts were not fully clear in the preliminary drawings.

Multiple speakers emphasized that final decisions about signage and some design elements rest with county engineers and the county highway department. The board decided not to vote on the county’s plan at the meeting; instead trustees said they would forward comments and safety concerns to the county and ask for clarification on stop‑vs‑yield placement and on where stop signs and crosswalks would be located relative to sidewalks.

In public comment, a resident suggested reinstating traffic signals at nearby intersections to better regulate flow and protect pedestrians, and another resident said growing tournaments at Commercial Club Park create heavy, intermittent traffic at the Nash and Hope intersection that may require additional mitigation. The police chief said accident data show frequent near‑misses in some nearby intersections and supported revisiting signage with the county.

No formal action was taken; trustees asked staff to collect questions for the county and communicate the board’s safety concerns back to the engineers.