Tag Archives: Mitchell Blvd.

Here in Story Hill…

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Those folks looking at the ground aren’t searching for the first blooms of the season. They’re staring in disbelief at their sidewalk slabs and trying to figure out why the city is worried about cracked sidewalk slabs when the neighborhood streets are falling apart. South-of-Bluemound residents got notices last week that some or all of the sidewalks in front of their houses need replacing and the city will charge them for the service. Lots of folks are very unhappy.  Note to Ald. Michael Murphy and the Department of Public Works: expect more calls.

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Speaking of crappy roads — Ellen P. is circulating for a petition seeking the long-overdue repair of Gen. Mitchell Blvd. where it poses a threat to safety. The city filled pothole craters a month or two ago (even though it is a county responsibility) but those patches are coming out.  Somebody is going to get hurt on this road and county officials are well aware of the hazard. It’s simply inexcuseable.

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The Story Hill Neighborhood Association is sponsoring a local Pitch, Hit and Run competition at 9 a.m.  May 16th at Mitchell Blvd Park (5115 W. Bluemound Rd.).  The event is open to girls and boys from age 7 to 14.  It is completely free of charge.  Winners advance to sectional competitions, then team championships at Miller Park and finally to the national finals in St. Louis. The finals will be held during the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Please contact Pete Schmidt (check your neighborhood directory) with any questions or concerns.

More information about the competition is here.

One way to deal with a gaping pothole…

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Update! Jan 13 — The pothole is fixed, but rumor is the city did it and not the county, which is actually responsible.

… Just put a construction barrel in it. Not over it, but in it — that’s how big this sucker is — as was done on Gen. Mitchell Blvd., which is a county street. The large fissure behind the barrel runs along, more or less, the center line of the north-south street. Numerous fissure branches head off to the east and west.

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The street is falling apart and is, quite frankly, a hazard to vehicles and the people riding in or on them. This pothole is one of the worst along this stetch of the road (just north of the I-94 overpass) but is by no means the only one that can do damage.

Crash facts about the Mitchell Blvd. overpass

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There were five crashes into the I-94 overpass at Gen. Mitchell Blvd. through early August, compared to seven during all of last year.

Semi-trucks semi-regularly plow into the structure because it is too low for them to pass under.

Dennis Shook, spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, called the semi-trailer shaving collisions “minor accidents,” which may be fine for him, but probably seems really, really short of the mark to those truck drivers who snap back from whatever daydreams they’ve been having to hear the sounds of their trailers being peeled open and their jobs perhaps circling the drain.

“The bridge is inspected after every incident,” Shook said. “Our bridge expert says that the bridge is structurally sound because it is made of concrete and does not have the same typical girder structure as most modern bridges. That bridge was erected in 1959.”

Shook noted that WisDOT has put up all sorts of signs warning truck drivers of the low bridge.

County officials have said they have discussed with WisDOT the possibility of rebuilding Mitchell Blvd. in a way to end the crashes. Shook, though, said “No one here is aware of any past or present conversations about that.”