New path in Marshall to connect campground for pedestrians

MARSHALL — Soon Marshall pedestrians will be able to access the entrance to Whistle Street, and the Whistle Stop Campground, via the village’s existing network of sidewalks.

The change is thanks to a new asphalt multi-use path that was unanimously approved by the Marshall Village Board for construction at their Tuesday, May 14 meeting.

The village board awarded a bid for the project to Payne and Dolan Inc. at the May 14 meeting. Payne and Dolan were the lowest of two bidders for the project at $109,708. Badgerland Excavating Corp. also submitted an estimate for the project.

Both bids came in lower than the expected cost of $114,507 that Town & Country, the village’s engineering consultant, had set forth during the design process.

In total, the path’s construction makes up $102,125 of the project cost. But, the village opted to pursue a supplemental bid of $7,584 with Payne and Dolan to pave the WE Energies driveway and incorporate smaller improvements within the total project.

It should be noted that Marshall received a significant ‘80-20’ grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to pursue the project. This means that the state will take on 80% of the project’s total cost ($87,766) and the village will account for the remaining 20% ($21,942).

The path is set to be ten feet wide and will run from School Street to the top of Whistle Street along the eastern side of Hwy 73, roughly a quarter of a mile. A pedestrian crossing with pavement markings will also be added to the School Street intersection.

The entrance to the campground currently feeds into the highway with no accommodations for pedestrian or bike traffic.

While the distance may not seem significant, there is currently no way for campers or visitors to access one of Marshall’s two largest tourist attractions without walking along the curb of the highway. So, the construction of the new multipurpose path is expected to help enhance connections between the village’s downtown and Whistle Stop.

“In the past we’ve always wanted all of our village residents and pieces of property to be connected. The easiest way to do that is through sidewalk. So, this is something that would’ve been down the road anyhow, and having the grant cover 80% of it makes this a good time to do it,” said Village President John Schuepbach on May 14.

Construction is expected to begin this summer and the path will take three weeks to complete, according to Director of Public Works Matt Pitzer.

This article was edited on Thursday June 27 at 12:06 p.m. to add the path's construction timeline.