Traffic safety on S. 27th Street dramatically improved

MILWAUKEE -- Traffic safety along S. 27th St. in Milwaukee has been dramatically improved since that stretch of road has undergone a massive reconstruction effort.

A series of streetscaping enhancements and intersection safety changes have been made to the affected stretch of S. 27th St. in recent years, and several other significant changes and improvements were put into place with the reconstruction of S. 27th St. two years ago.

“As recently as eight years ago, there were 10 intersections on S. 27th St. from the Kinnickinnic River Parkway to College Ave. on the ‘most dangerous intersection’ list and it was by far the highest concentration of crash locations in the city,” Alderman Terry Witkowski said in a release Thursday. “To go from 10 to zero in less than 10 years is quite an achievement.”

Now, thanks to beefed up patrols and the use of new signs, pavement markings and lanes, the stretch of road has no intersections on the list.

"The study found that on average, total crashes went down by 31 percent, and injury fatal crashes fell by 35 percent. Those are great numbers," Roy Hinz with AAA Wisconsin said.

The stretch of S. 27th St. affected by the construction is patrolled by police officers from Milwaukee, Greenfield, Franklin and Oak Creek. State Department of Transportation representatives and AAA Wisconsin also partnered to make the street safer.