9/29/25, Spectrum News 1 – Oshkosh leaders are taking a stand on an issue they said affects the city’s quality of life and vitality.
On Monday, officials gathered at Rainbow Memorial Park to discuss how deteriorating state highways are negatively impacting the region.
These concerns come on the heels of a 15% increase in state highway rehabilitation funding in the 2025-2027 state budget, which was signed in July.
However, Oshkosh leaders said they are still wary that the state legislature will maintain its transportation priorities and believe there could be project delays.
They gathered to promote “Re-vital-ize Oshkosh.” This highway project refers to major construction and rehabilitation work planned for several key highways in and around Oshkosh. It is part of a larger statewide effort called “Re-vital-ize Wisconsin.”
Oshkosh leaders called on state partners to prioritize investing in the city.
“Like many Wisconsin cities, Oshkosh is facing a growing challenge that impacts every resident, every business and every visitor that travels through our city, and that’s the deteriorating condition of state highways that flow through our community,” Oshkosh Mayor Matt Mugerauer said.
Mugerauer called attention to the state highways that cut through the community, saying these roads are long overdue for improvements.
Mugerauer said he wants to make sure there’s sufficient money at the state level for its roads.
“Everything costs a little bit more and making sure that funding is keeping up with the pace of the cost of those projects, and then that those projects are staying on schedule,” Mugerauer said.
Oshkosh has invested millions of dollars in updating outdated underground infrastructure.
Jim Collins, the city’s transportation director, said road projects need to be completed to provide an improved quality of life and basic infrastructure for the city’s drivers, transit riders, pedestrians and bicyclists.
“Delaying road projects causes undue delays, as well as wear and tear on our buses. It’s imperative that we maintain a state of good repair for our fleet, as well as for our roads,” Collins said.
Oshkosh Fire Department Battalion Chief Aaron Droessler said well-maintained highways are important for the safety of the city’s residents.
“There have been some very specific roads that we went out of our way to avoid, and certainly that affects, again, our response times of things when we would rather take a certain direction or destination to something, and we don’t,” Droessler said.
Hundreds of thousands of people visit Oshkosh each year. Amy Albright, with the Oshkosh Visitors Bureau, said it’s important to welcome them with quality roads that the city can be proud of.
“Curb appeal affects businesses and affects how we look at our community, and how people, the outsiders, look at us, and how we look at ourselves from the inside,” Albright said.
Mugerauer said the time to make sure funding is in place is now.
“It’s never too early to start telling our state legislatures about our needs, here in Oshkosh as well throughout the state of Wisconsin, and making sure that we take every opportunity to remind them that we need investment in our communities,” Mugerauer said.
Oshkosh has several major road projects underway, including a bridge rehabilitation, highway redesigns and rural road redesigns.
Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is currently in the midst of a “six-year state highway improvement program.” It includes major highway improvements along with freeway mega-projects and interstate bridge projects.
According to WisDOT data, the program will improve over 3,700 miles of Wisconsin roads from now through 2030. The estimated cost of those projects is over $7 billion spread out over six years.