It's a "dead horse," as one council member called it, but the question of whether to use federal money for an interchange on CTH D and Hwy. 53 has finally been decided.

The Chetek City Council voted in favor of using $250,000 of the $2 million of [Wisconsin] 7th District Congressman Dave Obey's earmarked federal money for a Department of Transportation environmental study on May 13, but decided against construction of an interchange.

According to Chetek Mayor Dianne Knowlton, the state did a study of the area and traffic and decided an interchange would not go in on the north end of town unless a large business or corporation moved in. The project would have cost an estimated $7-8 million dollars.

The council is requesting that Obey allow them to use the earmarked funds for other economic development.