Wisconsin's DOT is trying to pull a fast one by building the capacity for an extra lane through the much of the city west from the Marquette Interchange by creating shoulders 50% wider than normal.
Once the s\wider shoulders are there, then it will be oh, so simple to go ahead and just add that extra lane.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett strongly objects, as the city has been on record against an eight-lane, LA-style freeway across the city there since 2002.
I first read about this backdoor freeway expansion scheme on Gretchen Schuldt's fine blog and posted it last week.
We're getting a lot of double-speak from the Walker administration, and this is just another example.
I'm a leftie in almost everything. But for this one, for practical reasons, for having to drive through that corridor for the past twenty years, I'm sorry but I really don't see what's so wrong with "planning ahead." Traffic through there SUCKS. As long as we have the space to do it, why not make it so any future expansion doesn't cost more than it needs to?
ReplyDeleteOne reason the traffic congests - - and though I've been caught in it, it's far-less congested than in most other cities - - is that planners and governments have added no new transit to the corridor.
ReplyDeleteEach lane adds pollution to residential neighborhoods at the edges, induces more traffic and the cycle continues.
It's just more of the same. You can't build your way clear; alternatives need to be part of the mix.
And every study that's ever been done on this issue (all over the country) says that however wide we build highways, they will fill up and become just as congested as the highways they replaced. UNLESS alternative transportation is provided, we'll continue to have congested highways. It's about as inevitable as the sun rising in the east.
ReplyDeleteTo DSM - - Induced traffic.
ReplyDelete