Construction begins on Public Safety Education Center in Janesville

JANESVILLE, Wis. (WMTV) - Blackhawk Technical College held a groundbreaking event Wednesday in honor of their new Public Safety Education Center.

The building is part of the college’s Public Safety & Transportation Complex, a training center that was made possible by the passing of a $32 million referendum voted on unanimously in August of 2020. The funds were approved after the college’s Research and Planning Committee found that the current public safety and transportation facilities were inadequate and unsafe.

President of Blackhawk Technical College Tracy Pierner said the Public Safety Education Center will be on County Highway G, front and center as visitors approach the college.

“It’s wonderful,” he said. “It’s the start of a project, but it’s the end of a long culminating overall project, and so we’ve got a lot of great facilities here that a really great, but this is really the capstone, and what makes this so exciting is it will become the cornerstone of a growing campus here in Janesville.”

Pierner said the facilities will not only benefit students enrolled at the college, but the area as a whole.

“This facility is gonna be used not only by us, but predominantly by our community partners, so, you know a couple weeks ago we had the Madison Police Department out here utilizing our track for vehicle training, we’ll have the indoor firing range here that our law enforcement partners will utilize as they do their training and update their skills and certifications.”

George Cullen, co-owner at JP Cullen, the contractor for the project, said the project is a unique one that they are proud to be a part of.

“The technical college is such a driver of economic activity here, so to be able to play a role in that is substantial to us. Secondly, just with this being a public safety training facility, you know all communities need more first responders and public safety professionals, so those two aspects of this project are pretty special for us,” Cullen said.

The building, which will be located on the college’s Central Campus, is excepted to be completed in about 22 months, according to JP Cullen.

Click here to download the NBC15 News app or our NBC15 First Alert weather app.

Copyright 2022 WMTV. All rights reserved.