Since June of 2018 Shirley Yagoda has made it her mission to make roads safer for bicyclists. That’s when her husband, Brian, was killed while riding his bicycle.
She went to the county with a plan: “I told them want to pave the shoulder. They said it was not in their budget. I said 'If I give you the money, can I get it done sooner? And they said 'Well let me check on that.” sid Yagoda.
So that’s what Yagoda did. Through various fundraisers, Yagoda has raised about $80,000 since creating a foundation in her husband's name last summer.
“At my husband’s funeral there was a group of bikers who rode their bikes there. I ran out and said 'I just got a phone call the county says I can donate the money and pave the shoulders!'” said Yagoda.
Waukesha County will soon take bids to pave a portion of Golf Road where Brian Yagoda, a local pediatrician, was fatally struck on Jun. 14.
The county's executive and finance committees both accepted Yagoda's donation to turn the gravel shoulders into 5-feet-wide paved shoulders on both sides of Golf Road from Maple Avenue to Greenwood Lane.
Yagoda was out of town when the board voted, but she was excited when she got the news.
Carolynn Gellings, engineering services manager for the Waukesha County Department of Public Works, said the paving will be done this summer or early fall, but definitely this year.
Yagoda also said she wants to continue to work to make bike paths and other paving projects happen in the area.
