The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently announced that it granted
review of nine cases, out of about 100 petitions it considered. One
of the nine cases affects businesses and concerns a business that
had driveway access to a public highway.
The case, 118th Street Kenosha, LLC v. DOT,
2012AP2784, arose out of a large road-construction project
in Kenosha. One aspect of the project involved DOT relocating part
of 118th Avenue. Before the construction, a four-store shopping
center had two driveways—one providing access from 118th
Avenue and one providing access from a private road. DOT's
relocation of 118th Avenue eliminated the access from the public
road to the shopping center. DOT also took a temporary limited
easement ("TLE"), which it used to add a second driveway
that provided an additional access point to the shopping center
from the private road. Thus, there were still two driveways
providing access to the property, but both were on the private road
rather than on
