Gov. Evers, WisDOT Join Forest County Potawatomi Community to Celebrate Ribbon Cutting of New Multi-Use Path Along U.S. Highway 8

FOREST COUNTY POTAWATOMI COMMUNITY — Gov. Tony Evers, together with Forest County Potawatomi Tribal Chairman Brooks Boyd Sr. and Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) Assistant Deputy Secretary Joel Nilsestuen, today celebrated the grand opening of the new multi-use path along U.S. Highway 8 in Forest County. The ribbon-cutting on this new pathway marks another essential infrastructure upgrade for the state and the Forest County Potawatomi Community while also highlighting the strong collaboration and government-to-government relationships between the state of Wisconsin and the Native Nations.

“We are very excited to see the successful completion of this important infrastructure project,” said Forest County Potawatomi Chairman Brooks Boyd, Sr. “The work done during this reconstruction will bring improved safety and better accessibility for all members of our community and is a prime example of benefits that collaboration can bring to projects like this.”

“Through these trails and reconstruction of U.S. Highway 8, we are ensuring community members can safely take a stroll or bike ride and enjoy the great outdoors, drivers have a safer, smoother ride to work, school, or appointments, and companies will have a more reliable route to transport goods and services,” said Gov. Evers. “This new trail will serve as a backbone route connecting the main Tribal area of Stone Lake to Crandon, and I want to thank everyone who played a part in reaching this point today.”

The new multi-use path, located adjacent to U.S. Highway 8 between Fire Keeper Road and Love Knot Road, provides alternative transportation to Forest County Potawatomi facilities, including the Forest County Potawatomi Cultural Center, Library & Museum and the Forest County Potawatomi Executive Building. The trail offers travelers an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors with the improved walking and biking trail, which also includes a one-mile ATV trail and four kiosks and benches as information centers to engage travelers. The Forest County Potawatomi Community received state and federal grants to revitalize the area and enhance connectivity for bicyclists and pedestrians.

The Evers Administration, through WisDOT, helped support this project with more than $939,000 in funding awarded to the Tribe through the Transportation Alternatives Program. Additionally, thanks to the efforts of U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin to secure over $31 million from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Discretionary Grant Program in 2022 for Wisconsin, the Forest County Potawatomi Community received over $9.5 million to carry out this project. In 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration also awarded over $302,000 to the Forest County Potawatomi Community for this project through the National Scenic Byways Program.

“I fought hard to secure this funding because investing in our infrastructure means investing in Wisconsinites’ safety and our economy,” said U.S. Sen. Baldwin. “This project helps ensure that every Wisconsinite, whether you are walking, biking, or driving, can get to where they need to go safely and efficiently.”

“We’re honored to join the Forest County Potawatomi Community to celebrate the new multi-use path and trails to enhance safety and accessibility to other areas in the community,” said WisDOT Assistant Deputy Secretary Nilsestuen. “The road improvements along the U.S. Highway 8 corridor will greatly increase safety and visibility for the traveling public. Together with our Tribal partners, we are making strategic investments to not only strengthen our infrastructure but ensure our transportation system will be safer and more reliable while also supporting economic development.”

The multi-use path is adjacent to WisDOT’s reconstruction project on U.S. Highway 8 between WIS 55 in Crandon and WIS 32 South near Laona. The $18.6 million project repaved about 11 miles of highway, reconfigured travel lanes between Wildwood and Grandview avenues in Crandon, removed part of a hill to improve visibility at the Grandview Avenue intersection, and improved stormwater drainage in the area. Weather permitting, U.S. Highway 8 is anticipated to open to traffic on Sat., Oct. 18, 2025. The full U.S. Highway 8 project is scheduled to be completed in early November 2025.

INVESTMENTS IN THE 2025-27 BIENNIAL BUDGET TO SUPPORT WISCONSIN’S TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

After years of neglect under the previous administration, Gov. Evers has made fixing Wisconsin’s roads and bridges and making sure the state’s infrastructure can meet the needs of a 21st-century workforce and a 21st-century economy a top priority. Since 2019, under his administration, the state has improved more than 8,600 miles of roads and 2,000 bridges statewide. In fact, Wisconsinites could drive from Wausau, Wisconsin, to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and back three times on the number of miles of roads fixed. In each of his biennial budgets, Gov. Evers has secured historic investments in Wisconsin’s transportation infrastructure, and improving Wisconsin’s roads and bridges continued to be a priority for the governor in the 2025-27 Biennial Budget.

In addition to securing a three percent increase in General Transportation Aids, the final 2025-27 Biennial Budget signed by Gov. Evers includes:

• A historic increase of nearly $333 million over the biennium in the state highway rehabilitation program;
• $100 million for the Local Roads Improvement Program;
• Continuing support for the Agricultural Roads Improvement Program, created by Gov. Evers in the 2023-25 biennium, with a $150 million investment to continue repairing and improving Wisconsin’s rural roads to help farmers and producers and the state’s agricultural and forestry industries move products to market safely and efficiently, including $30 million specifically targeted to bridge and culvert repair;
• $244.5 million to keep key projects, such as I-41 and I-39/90, on schedule;
• A 10 percent increase to paratransit aids, increasing funding by $687,600 over the biennium;
• Improving safety on Milwaukee County expressways with $38 million in expressway policing aids; and
• $50 million for the harbor assistance program, including $15 million for the Menominee Harbor Project and $20 million for the Port of Green Bay.

The 2025-27 Biennial Budget also improves ongoing transportation fund revenues by generating nearly $200 million in additional revenue to improve the sustainability of the transportation fund.

In addition to robust investments in transportation infrastructure statewide, the final 2025-27 Biennial Budget invests in local communities to ensure that they are able to address the unique needs of their constituents and bolster local infrastructure, including $14 million through municipal service payments to ensure local communities have the resources they need to meet basic and unique needs alike.

Gov. Evers also exercised his broad, constitutional veto authority to partially veto aspects of the budget that were outside of the bipartisan budget negotiations. More information about the bipartisan budget signed by Gov. Evers is available here.

 

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.