The opportunity?
County Highway YY, bordering Lincoln and Price Counties, is a crucial route for logging trucks. The section of the highway connecting U.S. Hwy 8 and State Hwy. 86 is the most economical route for the forestry industry to transport timber from the Northwoods to the Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) Tomahawk Mill. This roadway is reaching the end of its useful life.
PCA manufactures brown paper for containerboard and is a major employer in Lincoln County, with over 400 employees. The mill purchases virgin fiber from 300+ professional logging companies and sawmills, which haul forest products to PCA via township, county, and state roads. However, larger vehicles can not use this critical stretch of YY year-round, as weight limits are placed on vehicles during the spring thaw period, forcing timber haulers to route through the city limits of Tomahawk.
What is the “fix,” and how does it benefit local industry and the community?
A $4 million project to upgrade the structural integrity of CTH YY will eliminate the need for posted weight limits and allow year-round transport of the more than 220 million pounds of timber deliveries that occur annually to the PCA mill. Work will include widening the road, strengthening the roadbed, improving the road surface, and rebuilding shoulders and culverts. This road improvement will eliminate approximately 1,860 additional trips required due to the size restrictions, decrease the hauling time of logging companies, shorten their turnaround time, and reduce fuel consumption and wear on equipment.
This project will also reduce the need to reroute timber haulers through the city limits of Tomahawk. Keeping heavily weighted trucks in rural areas and reducing congestion on the City of Tomahawk’s streets and other county/town roads used as bypasses will extend the life of those roads and improve the safety of the traveling public.
What makes the investment possible?
Thanks to a historic $7 billion budget surplus entering the 2023-25 budget cycle, the state established the $150 million Agricultural Roads Improvement Program (ARIP) to fund projects to improve rural roads, bridges, and culverts, which negatively impact Wisconsin farmers, producers, and the state’s agricultural industry.
In July 2024, WisDOT announced that ARIP funding would cover 90% of the total County Highway YY project cost, or $3,568,473. Lincoln and Price Counties will split the remaining 10% of the project cost. This project is one of 37 in 28 counties for which WisDOT awarded funding.
View the $50 million ARIP Round 1 project awards list here. NOTE: first-round ARIP applications greatly exceeded available funding, reflecting the need for improved rural roads statewide.
What’s next?
The timeline for this project is being developed, with Lincoln County sharing that the plan is to begin the project within the next two years.
WisDOT anticipates announcing the round two ARIP project awards in late December.
