It was a packed town hall at the old schoolhouse in Taft Wednesday, March 19, as 17 people gathered past 1 p.m. for a special road project announcement. Skyline Drive in northwest Taft, will be widened and paved, thanks in large part to a state grant.
A forecast snowstorm cut attendance somewhat at the gathering, but didn’t stop the township celebration.
“This is the most important thing to happen to Taft since it was organized in 1909,” Town Chairman Darrell Thompson said of the $2,218,108.40 in State ARIP funding Taft was awarded to widen and pave Skyline Drive. ARIP stands for Agricultural Road Improvement Program, a one-time $150 million state roads investment created within the existing framework for LRIP (Local Roads Improvement Funding) and included with the 2023-25 state budget.
The one time investment included two award cycles, one with $50 million in awards and another with $100 million. The road to being awarded grant funds started almost two years ago in April 2023 after Chairman Thompson noticed a story in the newspaper. The second round of ARIP awards opened July 31, 2024 with a deadline of Sept. 30, a limit of two applications allowed per sponsor.
Awarded in the second of two application cycles, the Skyline Drive Project was one of 55 awards given out to state municipalities. Paid for under a match agreement wherein the state will provide 90 percent funding and the Town of Taft will provide 10 percent, the 2.56 mile (13,517 feet) Skyline Drive at Taft being 11 feet wide in each lane with three foot shoulders when work is finished. Taft will provide $311,091.60 after factoring in engineer fees, the total road project cost being $2.529 million. SEH is anticipated as providing design engineering services for the project, which includes the replacement of large twin culverts near the north end of Skyline. Also contributing funds to the road improvement project were Taft township residents Larry and Bev Romanowski with $5,000 as well as Crystal Romanowski and husband Bill Rice with $1,000.
The Romanowskis operate a forage harvesting business and grain farm on Skyline, with road widening allowing for more space to both tractors and passing vehicles. Work to widen and pave Skyline will start once bidding is completed, while application for funding was helped by input from town officials and other local residents.
“We the undersigned officials of the Town of Taft do wholly endorse and support the application for grant funding of the Skyline Drive project in the Town of Taft, a letter dated August 20, 2024 to the Wisconsin ARIP Selection Committee states. “We support this project not only in our official capacities, but also as community stakeholders, lifelong residents, landowners, taxpayers and neighbors.”
Signed and submitted together with additional letters of support from other town residents, the Skyline Drive project support letter lists “existing circumstances” and “future ag expansion” as well as “traffic count,” “safety issues” and “overwhelming community support” in its rationale for the project. Traffic volume measured over twelve days in October 2023 showed 948 vehicles total, with Crystal Romanowski, Edward Orzechwoski, Mark Fitzsimmons, Mullins Cheese, Tractor Central, Gilman Feed, Company, and Ace Ethanol all contributing to support the project and lifting of weight limits as a result, allowing for full and greater loads to be transported.
Also included in local ARIP award recipients are Delmar (Round 1) with $477,000 for 345th Street and the City of Stanley (Round 2) with $1,263,150.12, also for 345th Street. Chippewa County received a $1,578,600 award for County Highway MM.