MIDDLETON, Wis. -- Driven by development pressures, the town of Middleton is looking at building a new road next to a Superfund landfill site.

The idea has stirred some residents into action and has put the race for seats on the Town Board at the center of the town's attention. A big issue in the race is the proposed road -- and the various kinds of safety issues that surround it.

One resident is running as a write-in candidate, hoping to defeat a three-term board supervisor.

Some community members have said the new route is needed, but critics have said there are too many risks

Thirty years ago, the area was a refuse hideaway landfill -- a private dump in the Black Earth Creek watershed next to a wetland.

By 1988, it became so toxic, that it polluted groundwater and nearby wells, and the state shut it down and requested that it be made a Superfund site.

The DNR has been monitoring and controlling pollution at the dump, but some fear all that could change if the town builds the new road right next to it.

"If the road goes through, and the landfill site is disturbed -- and the pollution levels increase again -- the town could be held liable ... and that'll affect everybody's taxes," said resident and Town Board candidate Mary Noles.

Noles' election signs dot the hills of Rustic Twin Valley Road. The town is exploring extending the road across Highway 14

Noles said she believes such a plan is risky and costly -- fears that are confirmed in a December e-mail from the EPA.

"Any potential breach of the landfill structure(s) could mean the township could become ... liable for any past and future pollution at and around the site ... And that -- could be potentially very costly ... " the e-mail said.

But Noles' opponent supervisor, Frank Acker, said the board wouldn't let that happen. He said the road might be the safest way to address increasing development pressures and the traffic that comes with it:

"We think we need a north-south corridor for safety reasons -- for the purpose of getting people out onto some of these thoroughfares rather than bottlenecking them into, you know, (one ) airport road or some of the other smaller arteries that are arterials streets that bleed off of it," said Acker.

The town has taken no formal action on the landfill road site other than spending some money to do drill and check on the dump's west boundary.

Acker said if things don't look good, another north-south route could be chosen. He said the current plan might cost $2 million to $3 million.