Racine County board discusses swap of County Trunk Highway KR and State Trunk Highway 75

A Racine County board member introduced a jurisdictional transfer to swap portions of County Trunk Highway KR and State Trunk Highway 75, a move framed as shifting maintenance responsibility to the party best suited for the roadway’s construction and expected use.

The board member said KR, a several-lane concrete roadway built for anticipated Foxconn traffic, is costly for the county to maintain. Under the proposed swap, the state would take the 1.4-mile KR segment from East Frontage Road to South 32nd/Sheridan Road; the county would assume roughly five miles of State Trunk Highway 75. County staff said the state had indicated it would hand over 75 "as is," a condition aimed at avoiding an estimated $9.45 million charge if WisDOT were to reconstruct the route before transfer.

Supervisors pressed staff on condition and timing. Supervisor Trottier asked whether county crews could handle repaving work on the section of Highway 75 from 142 to Highway 20; staff replied the county has equipment and could repave in the future but did not anticipate immediate action in the next one to two years. Staff said WisDOT had scheduled paving for parts of the route but charging the county to perform that work before a swap would be expensive, which is why the counties and state proposed an "as is" transfer.

Supervisor Spencer asked whether roadway names and addresses would change for residents; staff said the state will notify residents along KR about the number changes on that route and the county will notify residents on the portion of Highway 75 that becomes a county road (to be named BD for Brighton–Dover). The board discussed internal procedures and the required sequencing of the transfer, including waiting for completion of a roundabout project at the intersection of State Trunk Highway 75 and County Trunk Highway A.

Board members characterized the swap as a routine but important jurisdictional adjustment that aligns long-term maintenance responsibility with actual roadway construction and expected traffic patterns. The matter was presented as part of a package of second-reading items before the board; staff indicated any outstanding questions could be addressed in subsequent committee discussions.

The board did not adopt any new paving plan at the meeting; next steps identified were completing the engineering milestones tied to the roundabout and coordinating resident notification with WisDOT and county communications.