Colfax “getting closer” to ATV/UTV routes
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ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES — Village of Colfax employees have hauled fill in to make a driveway into Stuart Park for all-terrain vehicles. The driveway allows ATVs/UTVs to get off state Highway 170 as soon as possible after the bridge over the Red Cedar River in Colfax. Stuart Park will be the route to Tom Prince Memorial Park. —photo by LeAnn R. Ralph
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Colfax has made another modest step toward opening the all-terrain vehicle routes in the village.
“We’re getting closer,” said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, at the Colfax Village Board’s October 26 meeting.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has provided Colfax with a map of where the all-terrain vehicle/utility terrain vehicle signs and sign posts must be placed, she said.
After the village approved an ATV/UTV ordinance, there was “a rush” to put in some of the sign posts, and a few of those may have to be moved because the signs and sign posts must be installed according to the map, Niggemann said.
The ATV/UTV ordinance will not officially go into effect until after it has been published in the Colfax Messenger.
The village can install the sign posts and signs for the village streets, but Dunn County must install the signs on the state highways. The village does not yet have the state highway permit, she said.
Rand Bates, director of public works, reported that the driveway into Stewart Park, just past the bridge over the Red Cedar River on state Highway 170, has been installed to allow ATVs/UTVs to cross the bridge, enter the park, and access Tom Prince Memorial Park.
The Dunn County Board is expected to take action on adding county highways to the county’s ordinance, Niggemann said.
Usually additional county highways are added in October, but the county received three times as many requests as have been received in previous years, said Gary Stene, village president and also a member of the Dunn County Board.
Finding a way for the ATVs/UTVs to reach county Highway W from the ball park will be up to the Town of Colfax, he noted.
Highway 170 on the west side of the bridge has a 40 mile per hour speed limit, and according to state law, municipalities can only allow ATV/UTV traffic on state highways in their jurisdictions that have a 35 mph speed limit or less.
The speed limit on Highway 170 is the reason why the ATVs/UTVs must get off the highway right away after the bridge, Niggemann said.
Stene wondered if it would be possible for the ATVs/UTVs to drive on the berm along the Red Cedar River in Stewart Park.
There are too many trees, Bates said.
When the berm was first constructed, there were no trees, but the trees have grown up over the years, and it would take quite a lot of work to open the berm to all-terrain vehicle traffic, he said.
Niggemann also reported that the walking path from the Grapevine Senior Center to the Kyle’s Market property cannot be used by all-terrain vehicles.
The ATVs/UTVs will have to turn either right or left at Fifth Avenue to reach Kyle’s Market because Main Street/state Highway 40 goes to a 45 mph speed limit just before the Kyle’s Market driveway.
If the all-terrain vehicles turn to the west, they will have to use Willow Street and then come in on the back side of Kyle’s Market, Niggemann said.
ATVs/UTVs that turn to the east on Fifth Avenue will have to travel to Park Drive, turn south, turn onto Short Street by the Synergy car wash, cross Highway 40 to Bremer Avenue and then to Kyle’s Market.
The village has done all that the village can do for the ATV/UTV routes for the time being, Stene said.