Category Archives: Freeways

Hoan-ie Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down

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What are Summerfest officials supposed to do now that Graef-USA has announced that festival patrons may be injured by falling pieces of the Hoan Bridge? Will there be signs posted? Will the ground immediately under the bridge be blocked off?

If pieces of the bridge fall and hurt someone, who will be liable? Summerfest? The state? Wait — wouldn’t the state be immune from such lawsuits? The patron, under the theory that he or she should have known about the unsafe bridge? Did the Wisconsin Department of Transportation give Summerfest a head’s up that it was going to deliver a major blow to the festival’s attractiveness? Maybe extreme risk enthusiasts will be lured by the possibility that they might be crushed while walking to the Taj Mahal concert! If nothing falls from the Hoan and no one is hurt during Summerfest, can the festival get some compensation for the damage WisDOT has done to it? Was Summerfest mentioned so folks get scared and don’t stop to ask questions about the project? Aren’t patrons of ethnic festivals at risk, too?

And what about that horizontal cracking on the new Marquette Interchange retaining wall? Hmm?

Other questions — did Graef-USA have to bid for this particular “Summerfest patrons might diiiieeee!” work, or was it a no-bid job, like its work for then-County Executive Scott Walker on the O’Donnell Park fiasco?

And most importantly, why, if our existing infrastructure is in need of multi-, multi- multi- multi-millioin dollar repair work, is Gov. Walker pushing ahead with unaffordable, unneeded, multi-billion dollar highway expansion projects? Doesn’t this guy know anything about fiscal responsibility?

No, really, highways are all we need

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Just depend on gas-powered vehicles — any alternatives are just silly. Just ask road builders, some real estate agents and Scott Walker.

Don’t think about the latest from the Energy Information Administration:

Gas prices are expected to increase

Regular-grade gasoline retail prices, which averaged $2.76 per gallon last summer, are projected to average $3.86 per gallon during the 2011 driving season. The monthly average gasoline price is expected to peak at about $3.91 per gallon by mid-summer. Diesel fuel prices, which averaged $2.98 per gallon last summer, are projected to average $4.09 per gallon this summer. Weekly and daily national average prices can differ significantly from monthly and seasonal averages, and there are also significant differences across regions, with monthly average prices in some areas exceeding the national average price by 25 cents per gallon or more.

 

WisDOT withheld Zoo Interchange information: Murphy

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An angry Ald. Michael Murphy said Tuesday that Wisconsin Department of Transportation did not disclose to city officials its plans to build super-sized, 18-foot-wide shoulders on I-94 east of the Zoo Interchange.

The wide expanse of shoulders would damage property values and create negative impacts for residents living near the freeway, he said.

The shoulders would be wide enough to accommodate additional traffic lanes in the future, should WisDOT decide to add a fourth lane eastbound and westbound along that stretch of freeway. Standard shoulders are eight feet to 12 feet wide, according to WisDOT documents.

“It was a sin of omission,” Murphy said in an interview Tuesday.  He said WisDOT representatives were asked about potential expansion scenarios several times when they met with him, City Engineer Jeff Polenske and Public Works Commissioner Jeff Mantes.

“They weren’t forthcoming with that information,” Murphy said, adding that he was “very disappointed in the professionalism” of the WisDOT employees.

Murphy said city officials would seek to extend the April 4 deadline for comments on revised draft environmental impact statement for the proposed project. He said the Common Council needed the time to take an official on the WisDOT proposal.

“This has been on a very fast pace,” he said. The council meets April 12.

Polenske said he did not learn of the plan to build the super-sized shoulders until public meetings on the project last week.

Said Murphy: “If you don’t ask the question the right way, they won’t provide the information. You understand why people get cynical about them.”

The Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement does not discuss the possibility of 18-foot shoulders.

One page of the document promises “full 8- to 12-foot shoulders on all ramps and freeways” in the core of the interchange. The possibility of significantly wider shoulders is only hinted at.

“WisDOT and FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) have decided not to implement either narrower lanes or allow shoulder use,” the document states. “However, the Modernization Alternatives would not preclude using shoulders as travel lanes at some point in the future.”

And, several pages later,  the document says the core interchange will have “4 lanes on all four approach legs (or 3 lanes, with adequate median and shoulder width to add a fourth lane in the future without need for additional right-of-way acquisition).”
WisDOT has proposed keeping a three-lane freeway on eastbound I-94 east of the Zoo Interchange to 70th Street. In its revised impact statement, though, it is highly critical of a three-lane option, saying it “would not provide acceptable traffic operations.”

The Zoo Interchange — basic questions about a bad project in the making

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Question: Why is the Wisconsin Department of Transportation pushing a six lane eastbound option while simultaneously stating that six lane options are unacceptable? Can WisDOT be trusted to maintain its position or is the fix already in with a Republican legislature to flip back to an eight-lane option?

Question: What are the environmental, social and safety impacts of expanding Bluemound Rd., Watertown Plank and Highway 100?  What accommodations will be made for pedestrians and bicyclists? Will accidents and fatalities along this stretch count as urban freeway accidents and fatalities since the roads are now so intimately tied to the freeway project? Will we end up with eight-lane freewaysin all directions and bigger arterials?

Question: Where will WisDOT get the money to pay for this concrete fantasy?  How will it pay to maintain it all?

How does this benefit people who don’t have cars?

Before charging forward with Walker’s highway binge…

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…consider this from Reuters:

Congressional Republicans looking to hold down federal spending are considering a transportation budget blueprint that would, at a minimum, be less than half the size of the plan advanced by the White House.

In fact, the base-line figure of under $240 billion would fall below what Congress approved in similar legislation five years ago for road, bridge and transit upgrades, according to sources with knowledge of the six-year plan.

The bill for budgeting transportation priorities in the states is just beginning to take shape within the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

And if the feds don’t come through, just how will Gov. Walker get the money for his wildly over-ambitious homage to his road builder masters?