I’m always here I’M STILL HERE!for you! 26 years in VASD Housing Market
It’s your paper! Friday, April 10, 2020 • Vol. 7, No. 2 • Fitchburg, WI • ConnectFitchburg.com • $1
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Kathy Bartels 608-235-2927
KBartels@StarkHomes.com
Fish Hatch, McKee work dominate construction season
Inside Making the most of being shut in Page 2 Election continues despite late confusion Page 3
City will see completion of subdivisions, corporate buildings
Mayor gets emergency spending power Page 3
KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Star begins community helpers listing
In recent weeks, much of the usual springtime activity has been halted. Playgrounds and parks that would normally be teeming with children as the weather has warmed are closed, and traffic on many of the city’s main roads is noticeably reduced. Businesses whose parking lots are
There won’t be many road projects in Fitchburg this year, but three planned across the city could cause major disruptions. A rebuild of McKee Road to cap the seven-year Verona Road project and two projects reconstructing Fish Hatchery Road and part of McKee will reduce lanes for travelers throughout the next few months. The state Department of Transportation is entering its last year with the Verona Road project, which has plagued Fitchburg travelers with slow commute times to Madison the past few years as it widened the highway to three lanes and built an overpass at McKee Road and an underpass at Williamsburg Way. This year, that project includes rebuilding part of McKee Road in Fitchburg, after months of construction and lane changes damaged the road near the overpass. It will be widened to three lanes each way from Fitchrona Road to Commerce Park Drive. In conjunction with the state’s project, the city will reconstruct a portion of McKee Road from Commerce Park Drive to Seminole Highway. Fish Hatchery Road reconstruction, from the Beltline in Madison to Brenden Avenue started April 1. The project has been split into two phases to be completed over two years. The state will also repair bridges on U.S. Hwy. 14 from McCoy Road to Hwy. 138, south of the city. Bridges at Hwy. 138 and McCoy Road will be replaced, and the bridge deck overlay at County Hwy. MM will be repaired. The only other road in the city slated to be resurfaced is Irish Lane between Syene Road and Hwy. MM on the east side, which is set to be reconstructed, city transportation project engineer Bill Balke told the Star.
Turn to COVID-19/Page 9
Turn to Construction/Page 17
Page 6
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Absentee ballots are counted on election day, held on April 7, at City of Fitchburg’s District 3 polling place in the Community Center.
In quarantine Page 8
Sports Panthers’ title shot blocked by WIAA Page 11
Schools Oregon, Verona begin virtual learning Page 15-16
Business Promega producing COVID-19 testing material Page 19
JIM FEROLIE Fitchburg Star editor
T
he experiences people in Fitchburg and the rest of the country have had the past month would have been practically unimaginable just weeks ago. As the novel coronavirus swept from Asia to Europe and then America, the United States took the world lead in confirmed cases of COVID-19 by a nearly 3-1 margin. That highly contagious respiratory illness has to date claimed the lives of more than 83,000 people, with 95 percent of those deaths coming after the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic March 11. Since then, efforts to stop the virus, which spreads through airborne particles, forced schools and many Fitchburg businesses to close temporarily, events large and small to be cancelled, parks to be restricted and people to stay in their homes under most circumstances. Many of those things were already happening before the governor’s March 24 executive order put the power of the state behind them all. Though some hoped for a quick shutdown and a return to business as usual, by the end of March, it became
The Fitchburg Senior Center closed its doors to visitors from the public mid-March as the county and state imposed restrictions on public gatherings. The senior center is still offering services for residents, such as meal delivery and mental health help, just not from its physical location. clear that we’re all going to be stuck in our semi-quarantine for several weeks or more. By the second week of April, the sight of people wearing face masks had become commonplace and a fight over whether to postpone a statewide election came to a head, with a steady stream of voters at Fitchburg polls that had taken on a vastly different look.
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