Officials continue to wrestle with intersection fix

The Village of Grafton is continuing to wrestle with how to improve safety at the intersection of 13th Avenue and Highway 60 in Grafton.

The village in 2025 hired the Brookfield-based engineering and consulting firm raSmith to do a traffic and safety evaluation because of an increase in crashes at the intersection since 2019.

The Village Board approved raSmith’s recommendation to build a median island at the intersection, according to a memo to the Board of Public Works from Public Works Director Julie Esch.

But since that study and directive, Village Administrator Jesse Thyes left for a similar role in West Bend. The village engineer position had been vacated earlier, and the project did not move forward.

The interim department of public works director had crews install traffic delineators that created a “pork chop” island to prevent eastbound traffic on Highway 60 turning left onto 13th Avenue.

“This led to moderate improvements in discouraging left turns,” Esch wrote in the memo.

The state Department of Transportation had planned to do work from 10th Avenue east to the I-43 ramps. Grafton staff in the past asked the DOT to assess the intersection at Highway 60 and 13th Avenue because the house on the southeast corner of the intersection had been hit by vehicles multiple times before concrete bollards were put in front of it.

However, the bollards don’t meet the DOT’s safety requirements and the department proposed a new design.

Esch, village officials and DOT staff members walked the intersection recently, and the DOT proposed two safety alternatives. The Board of Public Works discussed them on Sept. 14.

One option calls for construction of a barrier on the north portion of the intersection on the west side of 13th Avenue. Two-way traffic would be allowed southbound on 13th Avenue to BMO Bank but not to the intersection. Westbound traffic on Highway 60 would be allowed to turn north (right) onto 13th Avenue.

Left turns would be prevented from northbound traffic on 13th Avenue onto Highway 60. Left turns from eastbound traffic on Highway 60 and right turns from westbound traffic heading south onto 13th would also be prevented.

One-way traffic would be changed from south to north only between Highway 60 and Bridge Street.

The change in one-way directions, Village Engineer Kevin Kimmes said, would affect businesses. BMO already told the village it would consider legal action.

“The most dangerous thing we do every day is make a left-hand turn. Hands down,” he said. “What you’re looking at is how hard and how strict do you want to put things up to prevent people from making these left-hand turns.”

The second option calls for the construction of a permanent pork-chop island on the north portion of the intersection, prohibiting left turns from southbound traffic on 13th Avenue heading east onto Highway 60. Two-way traffic access would be allowed to the bank from westbound traffic on Highway 60 and southbound traffic on 13th Avenue.

For the southern portion, left turns would be prohibited from traffic westbound on Highway 60 to southbound on 13th Avenue. A barrier would be constructed to extend 13th Avenue, allowing for a turning radius to accommodate trucks.

Public Works Supt. Jake Arndt said he recently had to replace three of the delineators because traffic is still turning left.

“They’re just running them over. What the state suggested isn’t working,” he said.

Trustee Russell MacRae, a Board of Public Works member, said the second option wouldn’t help much.

“I’ve almost been hit countless times driving down Highway 60 because somebody wants to turn left to go into the bank or turn left to go out of the bank to go eastbound. It’s ridiculous,” he said. “I’ve watched kids almost get hit crossing the street even with those crossing guard lights. It says you can proceed if they’re flashing, but they don’t understand that.”

A meeting to hear public input on the safety options was held on Tuesday.

The Board of Public Works is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, and could recommend an option to the Village Board.