Friday, March 30, 2012

That I-94 Construction Bottleneck Near Miller Park Is Nothing

It's just $9 million worth of resurfacing and lane closures for a mere 2.5 miles on I-94 eastbound, and the work that is wreaking havoc on commutes will be done by the opening of Summerfest, says WisDOT.

But beginning next year, and running through 2018, get ready for the the Whopper: the $1.9 billion remaking of the Zoo Interchange - - the busiest in the state.  Here's the footprint: make your plans accordingly.
Zoo Interchange project overview/location map.
Travel through the area would have been made a lot easier for many commuters if Waukesha pols and their talk radio allies hadn't killed a light rail line that would have run from the Waukesha County line, parallel to I-94, with stops proposed at the Medical Complex, Miller Park and the Third Ward.

So it goes.
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3 comments:

  1. zombie rotten mcdonaldMarch 30, 2012 at 12:32 PM

    I thought the Marquette interchange was the busiest?

    In any case, while I wish they had had the foresight to construct the light rail connections, I hope the DOT is following the same design planning process they used on the Marquette to minimize disruption. All the "gubmint can't do anything right" folks should note that the Marquette Project is now a model for planning infrastructure around the country, and the planning enabled it to come in under budget and early.

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  2. Say What? March 30, 2012 at 7:40 PM

    Yes -The Marquette Interchange reconstruction was a beautiful example of urban "freeway"construction. My only complaint with that was the stockyard /prison like black steel barrier/fences that frame the "freeway" . These are purely utilitarian functional barriers that could have been made in a more asthetic manner. Gee, are they strong enough. good Lord- an elephant couldn't get through those.Yet the LED lights and blue/earth tone contrasts are creative. My question is: will the same people who masterfully crafted and executed that project be part of the Zoo Interchange project or did they retire? And finally- we all know that freeway expansion is like a vacuum that needs a bigger bag. People in cars gravitate to free flowing traffic though once the bag AKA lanes are filled they just sit there accepting their fate like sheep refusing to try those " dreadful" inner city routes. Some though have figured out that taking Blue Mound downtown is a remarkably quicker route. Yet now it is nearly impossible to cross in a designated crosswalk at Blue Mound and 50th because traffic engineers defer to automobiles. Pediestrians have little respect in Milwaukee. Tosa- demand respect for pedestrians during your massive disruption.

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  3. Say What? March 31, 2012 at 7:03 AM

    Zombie brings up a good point. Once again - provisions for future light rail were not put in. Short sighted and ignorant ideological planning.

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