You can no longer trust the Wisconsin DOT
The Wisconsin DOT is always involved in various road projects that local communities find both very important and at times, very controversial. It used to be that you could count on the DOT to come up with a good, safe design for whatever projects they were working on. That is becoming less the case.
I will offer up three examples. The most glaring may be the U.S. Highway 12 bypass of Whitewater. I live close to this new bypass and had the chance to watch during the construction process. As I watched construction progress, though, I couldn't figure out what they were doing. The way the bypass met old Highway 12 on each side of town just did not make sense. Additionally, where the bypass crossed U.S. 89 on the south side of town, the intersection was extremely awkward. When the bypass was finally finished, it was apparent that it was very, very poorly thought through. Old Highway 12 through town became just that, Old Highway 12. The DOT completely cut off the natural access to the city of Whitewater, requiring traffic to bypass the city and enter on smaller roads from the east. This contributed to higher traffic counts than expected on the bypass, and the higher traffic counts made the Highway 89-Highway 12 bypass intersection obsolete before it even opened. The city of Whitewate complained loudly about this intersection from the get go, but the DOT did nothing about it until 4 serious accidents and 2 fatalities occured during the first few weeks the bypass was open. Point blank, the road was poorly designed from the beginning. Instead of a bypass of Whitewater, it became a rereouting of 12 around the city, which altered the traffic flow that the design was based off of.
The second case is the Highway 29-Highway 53 interchange in Lake Hallie in Chippewa County. It was destined to be an awkward exchange because three high traffic highways-U.S. 53, State 29, and State 124 came together in one place between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. I'm not going to go into the economic impact that this choice by the DOT will have on Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, and Lake Hallie. The problem with the design is it effectively cut off an important part of that area's economy, Chippewa Falls. The design made it awkward to get into the city, and poor signing by the DOT made it confusing. The city of Chippewa Falls is now going to have to come up with the $50,000 necessary to re-sign the roads so people can actually figure out how to get to the city. A road project that could have been a win-win-win for three communities became a win-push-lose for three communities.
The third case is the Highway 11 bypass of Janesville. Highway 11 carried a lot of traffic through the city of Janesville and tied up the downtown area during rush hours. The new Highway 11 carries the non-local traffic south of town, but the new road has two dangerous intersections. One is where the 11 bypass meets Highway 51, and the other is where the bypass meets the old 11 on the west side of town. The number of accidents at the Highway 51-Highway 11 bypass intersection have been high, and people have been confused at the bypass 11-Business 11 intesection, leading to some drivers careening off into a field.
The moral of my little story here is that when the Wisconsin DOT has a major road project in store for your area, go to any hearings that they offer and try your best to understand how the road design is going to affect your area. I'm sure that the DOT is trying to meet the realities of constrained budgets, but they should not be compromising road safety or economic impacts in order to do so. If anything, the window for the road projects the DOT wants to accomplish in the next 10 years needs to be expanded to a 15 year time frame. Compromising road designs will ultimately hurt communities over the long run more than the existance of the new road will help. If you see a poor road design for your area, you had better raise a stink before rather than suffer for the road later.
I will offer up three examples. The most glaring may be the U.S. Highway 12 bypass of Whitewater. I live close to this new bypass and had the chance to watch during the construction process. As I watched construction progress, though, I couldn't figure out what they were doing. The way the bypass met old Highway 12 on each side of town just did not make sense. Additionally, where the bypass crossed U.S. 89 on the south side of town, the intersection was extremely awkward. When the bypass was finally finished, it was apparent that it was very, very poorly thought through. Old Highway 12 through town became just that, Old Highway 12. The DOT completely cut off the natural access to the city of Whitewater, requiring traffic to bypass the city and enter on smaller roads from the east. This contributed to higher traffic counts than expected on the bypass, and the higher traffic counts made the Highway 89-Highway 12 bypass intersection obsolete before it even opened. The city of Whitewate complained loudly about this intersection from the get go, but the DOT did nothing about it until 4 serious accidents and 2 fatalities occured during the first few weeks the bypass was open. Point blank, the road was poorly designed from the beginning. Instead of a bypass of Whitewater, it became a rereouting of 12 around the city, which altered the traffic flow that the design was based off of.
The second case is the Highway 29-Highway 53 interchange in Lake Hallie in Chippewa County. It was destined to be an awkward exchange because three high traffic highways-U.S. 53, State 29, and State 124 came together in one place between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. I'm not going to go into the economic impact that this choice by the DOT will have on Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, and Lake Hallie. The problem with the design is it effectively cut off an important part of that area's economy, Chippewa Falls. The design made it awkward to get into the city, and poor signing by the DOT made it confusing. The city of Chippewa Falls is now going to have to come up with the $50,000 necessary to re-sign the roads so people can actually figure out how to get to the city. A road project that could have been a win-win-win for three communities became a win-push-lose for three communities.
The third case is the Highway 11 bypass of Janesville. Highway 11 carried a lot of traffic through the city of Janesville and tied up the downtown area during rush hours. The new Highway 11 carries the non-local traffic south of town, but the new road has two dangerous intersections. One is where the 11 bypass meets Highway 51, and the other is where the bypass meets the old 11 on the west side of town. The number of accidents at the Highway 51-Highway 11 bypass intersection have been high, and people have been confused at the bypass 11-Business 11 intesection, leading to some drivers careening off into a field.
The moral of my little story here is that when the Wisconsin DOT has a major road project in store for your area, go to any hearings that they offer and try your best to understand how the road design is going to affect your area. I'm sure that the DOT is trying to meet the realities of constrained budgets, but they should not be compromising road safety or economic impacts in order to do so. If anything, the window for the road projects the DOT wants to accomplish in the next 10 years needs to be expanded to a 15 year time frame. Compromising road designs will ultimately hurt communities over the long run more than the existance of the new road will help. If you see a poor road design for your area, you had better raise a stink before rather than suffer for the road later.
posted by Jib @ 4:02 PM
<< Home