(Brown County, Wis.) – Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach and Highway Commissioner Chris Hardy kicked off the 2026 Road Construction Project season with an important reminder for drivers to take safe actions behind the wheel to keep roadway workers and each other safe.
“Brown County wants its drivers going to work, school, home, or leisure travel, to remember that your actions behind the wheel can be forever,” says Streckenbach. “When you see the orange barrels, cones, or road signs indicating that work is ahead, put down the phone and slow down so our Highway crew members can make it home that day.”
This important message comes following a Brown County Truck Mounted Attenuator (TMA) being hit by an errant vehicle last week in a maintenance work zone on Interstate 43. No one was hurt in the collision, which totaled both the TMA and the driver’s vehicle, but the Highway crew were rattled by this close call.
“Truck Mounted Attenuators are devices when hit by an errant vehicle, it will absorb the energy of the crash and lessen the impact to the errant driver. For Brown County employees, it provides a minor amount of reaction time to look up from their work and try to get out of the way,” says Hardy. “We invest and implement safety tools for precaution; however, at the end of the day, prevention is the best precaution. Remember we are highway workers, but we are also fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters, and at the end of the day we all want to go home safely.”
This week also marks the official kickoff to Brown County’s 2026 Road Construction Project season. Brown County Highway invests $12.38 million to complete 7 projects covering more than 20 lane miles county-wide this year, outside of projects associated with the South Bridge Connector Project. You can learn more about the Highway Department by visiting their website: https://www.browncountywi.gov/departments/highway/general-information/
