Washington County hears complaints about roadside parking at Big Cedar Lake; refers review to traffic safety commission

Supervisors discussed repeated summertime roadside parking on County Highway K where it meets Highway 144 near Big Cedar Lake and agreed to refer the issue to the county Traffic Safety Commission for further study and recommendation.

The matter was introduced by a supervisor who said the Town of West Bend asked the county to review a recurring problem of vehicles parking along a steep hill that dead-ends at Highway 144, a location used by people accessing the lake. The speaker said complaints center on vehicles parking near driveways and an intersection and on children and other pedestrians crossing Highway 144 to reach boats and piers.

Scott (staff member) reviewed prior analyses and said the county examined crash data from 2018–2024 and crashes in 2025 and found no crash cluster in the immediate area. He said most crashes in the area occurred between October and March, during winter conditions, and that staff also checked for pedestrian incidents and did not find any recorded events in the analyzed span.

Staff said County Highway K typically has a 5–7 foot paved shoulder and sometimes a 0–4 foot gravel shoulder, and that existing county parking and access-control policies already prohibit parking too close to driveways and intersections; enforcement can be done by the sheriff’s office in specific cases. Supervisors discussed the trade-off between preserving public access on county roads and limiting seasonal parking. One supervisor suggested a targeted no-parking restriction near the corner — for example, the first 100 feet — to preserve turning visibility without banning parking for the full length.

The committee did not enact a regulation at the meeting; staff agreed to present the matter to the traffic safety commission at its September meeting with updated crash data and a site review. The proposing supervisor said he would inform the Town of West Bend of that referral.