For the City Times

The Town of Hull has been awarded more than $1 million from the state to reconstruct North Second Drive.

The announcement was made in a letter from Governor Scott Walker to Town of Hull Chairman John Holdridge.

The $1.23 million grant to reconstruct North Second Drive — a stretch of road that runs from Stevens Point’s city limits north for 3.46 miles to Highway X in the Town of Dewey. The last time any major road work was done on the roadway was 1990.

In his letter, Walker said the grant, which is through the state’s Town Road Discretionary Improvement (TRDI) Fund, is meant “to assist local units of government in improving seriously deteriorating town roads by paying up to 50% of the total project cost”.

Hull will receive $1,222,777 of state funds, to be matched with Hull funds, to bring the estimated total cost of the N. 2nd Drive project to $2,445,554.

According to a news release from Hull, reconstruction of the road has been “a priority for a number of years”.

“But because of project costs, [it] was unlikely without State of Wisconsin financial support,” the release read in part. “With this grant, the reconstruction of N. 2nd Drive is now possible.”

In their grant application, Hull officials received letters of support from Stevens Point Mayor Mike Wiza, Town of Dewey Chairmen Dennis Hintz and John Gardner, president of Heartland Bike Club.

The Portage Co. Highway Department’s Steve Schlice also helped the town with information on state regulations and project guidelines for the grant application, according to the release.

The N. 2nd Drive is one of 42 TRID projects funded in Wisconsin; Hull’s grant is the largest awarded in the state.

The project includes a reconstructed paved roadway and four-foot pedestrian/bicycle lanes on each side of the road. The project will be complete by June of 2021.

A construction start date was not immediately known.