Tom and Jeff,

 It was a pleasure meeting you both.  We want to thank-you for taking the time to visit Grantsburg and discuss our Design Team ideas for Highway #70. 

 We are stakeholders together in this vital link to Wisconsin Vacationland that will certainly have more pressure as future bridges are not likely over the St. Croix River.  The economic mass of the Twin Cities will present opportunities we are not even aware of which will require infrastructure planning now.  We all agree that this IS the time. 

 To that end, it was very encouraging to us that you saw the value in the work the Grantsburg Revitalization Operation (GRO) has done and are committed to remaining involved for the foreseeable future .  The old adage “Rome wasn’t built in a day” certainly speaks to what we know to be the reality in terms of outcomes.  But if we never start communicating what we want, we will never end up getting what we need.

 As we discussed, the long-term idea of a round-about needs some metrics and data mining done in the short-term.  We have data we can make available to you from the Design Team application and pre-visit.  There is discussion in Grantsburg regarding truck access to our Industrial Park and it would be helpful to coordinate our ideas and conversations.  Identifying the composition of the traffic on #70 will help us all do better planning in this regard.

 In the mid-term, beautification, lighting and safety by creating some divider/median space on #70, seems to make some sense from a traffic control/safety perspective.  For Grantsburg, making a positive impression on travelers and people that could become residents is a priority – many of those impression are made on #70.  There seemed to be interest in beginning that kind of planning.

 Finally, in the short-term, we discussed the possibility of some dedicated turn lanes to improve access and safety.  There may also be the need for service roads and combined access points.  Tom had mentioned taking a look at the existing right-of-way for the purposes of potential divider/median and potential turn lanes.  To that end, we appreciate very much your offer to have someone from your office participate in our Highway #70 Committee meetings.  This would be the best conduit for sharing information and shaping planning decisions.

Please visit our GRO website.  Also let us know what information you would like as we did compile substantial amounts between the Wisconsin Tourism assessment and the Design Team visit.  We remain optimistic that there would be enough pots around to make some of our wants and needs a reality in due time.

 Thanks, again, and let us know what next steps are needed.

 Warm regards,

Wade Vitalis

GRO Member

Highway #70 Committee Chair