Milwaukee N. Water Street redesign project; residents weigh in
MILWAUKEE - The City of Milwaukee wants to redesign N. Water Street to cut down on reckless driving.
This is a new vision for Water Street that would prioritize making a corridor of the road safer for transit, pedestrians and cyclists.
Dozens piled into Diercks Hall at Milwaukee School of Engineering on Thursday evening, Nov. 14, just blocks away from Water Street, the latest focus of a redesign project to deter speeding. It was the first open house where the public was able to weigh in.
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"I think there is a lot of fast moving vehicles, especially late at night," said Mitchell Johnstone, who lives on Water Street, about the street being unsafe.
Others say there is no issue.
"I feel that Water Street should make no changes," said Ty Madlock.
Project aims to redesign N. Water Street; public meeting Thursday
The City of Milwaukee will be holding a public meeting on the N. Water Street Project on Thursday, Nov. 14, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Diercks Hall at MSOE.
But changes could still be coming. The city is looking at new design alternatives impacting N. Water Street from E. Kilbourn Avenue to E. Pleasant Street.
"Two of the alternatives specifically have protected bike lanes incorporated into them where bikes would be physically separated by traffic, rather than have a lane in the street."
As opposed to the current two lanes of traffic each way.
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The designs call for one driving lane and a dedicated bus-only lane in both directions, as well as wider sidewalks.
Chad Chrisbaum is an engineer in charge with the city.
"Unfortunately, it's on the Pedestrian High-Injury Network, meaning that there are a lot of pedestrian-related crashes," Chrisbaum said. "One in five vehicles is going over 40 miles an hour and the speed limit out there is 30."
Data provided by the city shows there have been over 340 crashes within the corridor from 2018 to 2023, excluding 2020.
Johnstone is welcoming the potential changes.
"There’s been many nights that I’ve, even in the past year, I’ve heard crashes right outside of my building," he said.
While others say if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
"I feel that if they don’t have the funds for this, we shouldn’t even press it anymore," Madlock said.
When it comes to funding, the project could cost at least an estimated $10 million. The city is still looking for funding sources.
As far as the timeline, there is still time for the public to weigh in. A design will not be picked until mid-to-late next year.