By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Despite a recent resident’s concern, trucks and other large vehicles will continue to traverse freely along county Highway J in Rochester, following a recent decision by village officials.
A month ago, the Rochester Village Board fielded a resident’s safety-related concerns about truck traffic through one of the community’s main thoroughfares. Before rendering an official decision, the board enlisted input from the Racine County Sheriff’s Department and other county agencies.
Sgt. William Mattke of the sheriff’s department looked into several pieces of data — including a history of crashes in the area — and wrote up a report. It was shared with the Village Board on Feb. 8.
Mattke’s analysis was especially laser-focused on the intersection of Highway J at state Highway 36. He gathered input from staffers within the county highway department and local representatives of the state Department of Transportation.
“The statistics do not indicate that this section … (is) experiencing a significant volume of accidents in general, much less heavy truck accidents,” Mattke wrote in a memo to the village.
In his professional opinion, Mattke said a directive by the village to divert heavy truck traffic elsewhere could actually do more harm than good.
“Removing this section of county Highway J could cause a much greater hazard on state Highway 36, between county Highway D and county Highway J, as an alternative route with trucks attempting to change lanes in such a short distance while under slow acceleration,” Mattke added.
Speaking specifically about the intersection of highways J and 36, Mattke said historical data has revealed vehicle collisions in the high-profile area have been infrequent. He noted three accidents at the site within the past year.
Two of the three accidents were considered serious, Mattke said. One resulted in property damage and another incident resulted in an injury. Additionally, Mattke said there have been six vehicle-deer incidents at the intersection of highways J and 36 within the past year.
“I cannot remember the last time we had a crash at this location involving a heavy truck, so they are definitely not a frequent occurrence,” Mattke said.
Some of the recent concern about truck traffic along Highway J could potentially be linked to the bridge reconstruction project that is underway along Highway D. But Mattke said he looked into this scenario during his analysis.
“I spoke with … the construction company that is doing the bridge project,” Mattke wrote in his memo. “(A company representative) indicated that currently all debris is being processed on site, so they may only have one or two dump truck loads of gravel delivered per week. There is not an increase in truck traffic due to the project at this time.”
In their deliberations at their Feb. 8 meeting, the Village Board cited Mattke’s comments as the basis for their decision. The vote to keep truck traffic provisions as-is within the village was unanimous.
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