August 18, 2026
By Lane Kimble
RACINE — A.W. Oakes & Son generally keeps its fleet of easy-to-spot, bold yellow trucks within a one-hour radius of the home office in Racine.
“We kind of pride ourselves on being that neighborhood contractor,” project manager Connor McMahon explained. “These are the towns we live in.”
It doesn’t get much closer to home than Highway 31.
“We’re legitimately a stone’s throw from the job,” McMahon said.
Indeed, the 1.5-mile full reconstruct of the busy westside corridor is less than a mile away from the Oakes headquarters. McMahon led WTBA staff, State Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, and State Rep. Tip McGuire on a tour of the two-year project Monday afternoon.
As prime contractor, Oakes is handling about 80% of the work, doing its own grading, utilities, storm sewer, material processing and concrete on the $23.3 million job.
The close proximity and ability to recycle materials nearby meant significant savings on trucking costs, helping Oakes secure the low bid.
“Us being so close was that $1.5 million advantage,” company president Max Oakes said. “You have a lot of outside contractors that are further away, buying from different resources. It is a hometown discount, per se.”
But checking out the Highway 31 progress–where fresh concrete pavement now runs along the northbound side–was actually the end of the tour.
Oakes and subcontractor Payne+Dolan first discussed transportation funding and workforce with the lawmakers, then showed them a mobile batch plant and crushing operations running in the company’s side lots.
“I love these tours,” said Rep. McGuire, who also sits on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. “It helps visualize the things we hear from DOT and we hear from stakeholders about why the level of funding matters.”
Consistent and long term state funding for transportation doesn’t only mean paychecks for industry workers like Oakes’ 265 employees, it also means investing in tools to do the work faster and better.
The company bought a brand new $825,000 Wirtgen SP 25 paver from Roland Machinery for this project. The hybrid machine allowed them to lay curb and gutter, then turn around and pave a lane for traffic in one sitting.
“The Oakes family is never afraid to invest in equipment and technology, so long as there’s a use,” McMahon said. “You can keep up on technology, you can keep up on investing in the future when you know the future is strong.”
The Highway 31 corridor’s future should be bright when main construction work is finished in 2027. It will feature safer intersections, better traffic flow, and fully connected sidewalks for the people–and companies–who call Racine home.
“We always go above and beyond to provide that good product because that’s going to be ours, too. Highway 31 is a great example of that,” McMahon said. “We’re right here, we’re going to be jumping on it and hauling up and down it for the next two decades and then some.”
