City to narrow 5 streets to reduce reckless driving
To address concerns about speeding and reckless driving, the City Milwaukee will narrow five streets with traffic paint, making room for bike lanes, crosswalks and turn lanes.
After a spate of hit-and-run incidents last year — including one that killed a 6year-old girl and another that killed a popular bartender on Christmas Eve — many community members expressed concern about reckless driving.
“We have to slow down,” said neighbor J. Harvey Perez after the Christmas hit-and-run. “It’s ridiculous.”
After the death of the 6-year-old in October, Mayor Tom Barrett also decried the reckless driving that has plagued Milwaukee’s streets.
“A family is crushed, a child is dead, another child is very seriously injured, and this insane driving has to stop,” he said. “This has to be a warning to every single crazy driver in the city: You may think that it’s fun, you may think that it’s exciting to ignore our traffic laws, and a child is dead.”
The Department of Public Works said it expects the projects to reduce speeding and crashes and improve conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists. DeNeve added that the streets are adjacent to parks, schools and trails, which generate significant pedestrian traffic.
“We’ve had long-standing requests to calm the traffic and make it safer for people to cross the street,” said Brian DeNeve, spokesperson for the Department of Public Works.
The road work began the week of July 6 and will be completed by the week of Aug. 31, the city estimated. During that period, travel along the streets will be maintained in both directions, although some lanes will be temporarily closed for pavement marking changes.
The following streets will be affected:
South 43rd Street from Oklahoma Avenue to Lincoln Avenue.
East Oklahoma Avenue from Chase Avenue to Clement Avenue.
North Lake Drive from Park Place to Edgewood Avenue.
West Grantosa Drive/North 68th Street from Appleton Avenue to Florist Street.
South Howell Avenue from Oklahoma Avenue to Lincoln Avenue.