| By Big Radio News Staff |

If you want to scoot along the streets of Milton on an ATV or UTV, the city’s asking you for just a little more patience, please.

The Milton City Council OK’d an ordinance this spring that allows the recreational vehicles to use city streets. Sachse says the signs remain on backlog, and the city doesn’t expect them to arrive until late June.

The city already pushed back its official open of ATV-UTV routes, holding off on opening up the routes until the city receives route signs it ordered in mid-May.

The city of Milton already pushed back its official open of ATV-UTV routes on city streets last week, holding off on opening the routes until. Now, the opening’s pushed back again, likely until sometime in early July. That’s because the city’s still waiting for a manufacturer to send those signs. Sachse says they remain on backlog, and likely won’t arrive until late June.

Sachse says the timeline for routes opening is still a bit murky, because city workers have to install the signs. He indicated that if the signs do come in late this month, it might be a race for city crews to post the ATV-UTV routes and open ridership through town before the Fourth of July weekend.

Sachse says the city’s taking advantage of the delay by schooling Milton’s police force on ATV-UTV laws.

Sachse says because the vehicles are recreational, his cops have to apply state Department of Natural Resources rules, along with state law, as ATV-UTV traffic starts to blend with other traffic on the city’s streets.

It’s possible signs could be posted and the routes will open by the Fourth of July weekend, Sachse says — but that’s only if the city has designated route signs in place, which are required by law to inform both recreational riders and regular motorists that UTV and ATV traffic can be present.

Sachse says his officers have encountered some people who’ve already started to cruise Milton’s streets on UTVs before the route signs are in place. He says police have given those riders a friendly notice to knock it off — at least until the route signs are posted.

Sachse says you can check out the city of Milton’s web page on the city’s UTV ordinances. Many laws that apply to people driving cars also apply to ATVs and UTVs on the streets.

Here are a few tidbits Sachse says people should understand as they get ready for the city’s ATV and UTV routes to open.

— Riders must stay in traffic lanes and obey posted speed limits. Police can ticket speeding UTVs and ATVs, and while infractions won’t add points to a rider’s regular state driver’s license, they could get a speeding ticket.

— It’s against city rules to ride an ATV on sidewalks, or in pedestrian or bike lanes.

— Drinking and driving while operating ATVs and UTVs is prohibited. State laws on operating while intoxicated apply to UTV and ATV riders.

— Milton as of yet has no direct connecting ATV-UTV routes that run in or out of city limits. That’s because none of the towns that abut Milton city limits have OK’d ATV-UTV routes on county roads. Sachse also points out there also are no designated ATV-UTV trails in Rock County.

That means that while riders can take to city streets, they’re not allowed to enter the city or leave the city on roads that run through adjacent townships.

It also means people coming into Milton to use ATVs or UTVs must trailer those recreational vehicles into town, and if they want to ride on other local routes, they must trailer the vehicles through township areas that do not yet have designated routes.

Big Radio anchor/reporter Neil Johnson gathered information for this report.