KESHENA, WI – The Town of Menominee closed the Old South Branch Road cut-across due to flooding near the Minnow Creek area.
Menominee County Highway Commissioner Jeremy Weso says there are three small pockets of flooding on the roadway located within one mile north of the Minnow Creek area.
He says the concern is that it can cause damage to vehicles and injuries to passengers.
“It has the potential to do a really good number on your suspension.”
Weso says it turned to ice and there is ice on each side that is about eight inches thick.
“We had so much moisture last year that the little creek has overrun it’s boundaries so it is going right across the road.
He says vehicles without four wheel drive could also find themselves stuck so it was an easy decision to close the road.
“It is not a very well traveled road, it is used for residents more as a shortcut.”
He says if residents are trying to get to other areas where the road connects there are other ways around.
Weso says the only way the road would open is if somehow the water started to recede off the road.
“I find it very doubtful that the water will start going through the ground with the ground being frozen so it is not going to go anywhere.”
He says the plan is to keep the road closed for the rest of the winter and put in a culvert in the Spring as well as making a few minor road improvements to help alleviate some of the flooding on the road surface should we experience another rainy season similar to 2019.
