News: Abbotsford (13-29 Intersection - 1986)

Transcriber: Robert Lipprandt
bob@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Grube, Wild

----Source: The Tribune - Phonograph (Abbotsford, WI) 5/25/2016

Originally published in the Abbotsford Tribune, May 28, 1986

DOT plans for 13-29 hard to fight

Faced with what they considered an inevitable outcome, the Abby Street Sewer and Water Committee voted Tuesday to recommend that the state’s preferred version of the 13-29 intersection be constructed in 1987.

A recent meeting with Dept. of Transportation officials convinced aldermen that the state is leaning heavily toward the fourth of four alternatives presented by the DOT. That includes much wider turning radii than at present, and the construction of four triangular islands to facilitate right-hand turns on each of the four legs of the intersection.

It is unlikely that the city could sway the DOT one way or another, and the committee recognized that.

Going along with the most drastic treatment for the intersection is a hedge against future highway changes. If the DT decides in years to come that the available right-of-way for Hwy. 29 is not large enough to accommodate the projected traffic flows. There is a chance a bypass would be recommended. That would mean economic hardship for many businesses in town which depend on through traffic for much of their sales.

But the new intersection will mean some changes for the three service stations on the corner. With the smallest acreages available, Jack Wild’s Abby Oil station “will be destroyed,” said Mayor Duane Grube. Wild has the potential to expand to a parcel to the north, and could well be forced to do that, given the amount of his land that the new intersection will chew up.

Auto Stop and Petro Pantry will be affected but to a lesser degree. The Abbotsford State Bank, although it will be within five feet of the curb at one point, foresees no conflict with the DOT plans.