Milwaukee area freeways

[triplemultiplex]

You'd never be able to see all those landmarks from a single vantage like that.  Mostly due to the small height of the Domes and the Art Museum.  Maybe if you were atop a residential high rise in the Bayview neighborhood, but even then the Hoan Bridge would block the art museum.  But from the ground?  Forget about it.

I thought it was ironic that such a picture adorns the entrance to a tunnel that leads one away from Milwaukee.
I'm glad to see WisDOT is continuing with the Brewers-colored freeway structures started in the Marquette rebuild.  That's a concept that should be embraced in other parts of the state.  The new flyovers that will go up in Green Bay would look really sweet with green girders and yellow concrete.

[Brandon]

You'd never be able to see all those landmarks from a single vantage like that.  Mostly due to the small height of the Domes and the Art Museum.  Maybe if you were atop a residential high rise in the Bayview neighborhood, but even then the Hoan Bridge would block the art museum.  But from the ground?  Forget about it.

I thought it was ironic that such a picture adorns the entrance to a tunnel that leads one away from Milwaukee.
I'm glad to see WisDOT is continuing with the Brewers-colored freeway structures started in the Marquette rebuild.  That's a concept that should be embraced in other parts of the state.  The new flyovers that will go up in Green Bay would look really sweet with green girders and yellow concrete.

They'd have to place a patrol car car there to keep Bears fans from defacing those. 

[triplemultiplex]

The ramp for I-43 NB through the Mitchell Interchange opened last week and I snapped some pics of the new tunnel ramp.  So all system movements are now open.

This is the 43/894 split underneath 27th St.  When complete, we'll have 4 EB lanes from Loomis Rd. to this point.


The entrance to the first tunnel bears the same pictographic version of the Milwaukee skyline as NB->WB.  The first tunnel dives under EB->SB and NB->WB ramps.  Only one lane is open for now, but as you can see, it will have two lanes in final configuration.


There's brief gap before the second tunnel under I-94.  Having them in rapid succession reminds me a lot of the I-35 tunnels in Duluth.


With the 27th St. interchange fully open with its trend-setting U-ramps, all that remains in the Mitchell Interchange is completion of mainline I-94 through the interchange area and the north ends of the c/d setup between here and College Ave.  The system ramps are very nice and most drivers won't even have to slow down to navigate them in light traffic.

[OCGuy81]

I really like the airplane on the upper right corner of that BGS!! That's a cool feature, and looks a lot nicer than adding a green tab with an airplane on top of the assembly.

[triplemultiplex]

I really like the airplane on the upper right corner of that BGS!! That's a cool feature, and looks a lot nicer than adding a green tab with an airplane on top of the assembly.

That's been a feature of Milwaukee-area BGS's for as long as I can remember.  When I see the tab version in other cities, my first thought used to be, "Oh they forgot to put it on the original sign and had to add it later."

[mgk920]

I really like the airplane on the upper right corner of that BGS!! That's a cool feature, and looks a lot nicer than adding a green tab with an airplane on top of the assembly.

That's been a feature of Milwaukee-area BGS's for as long as I can remember.  When I see the tab version in other cities, my first thought used to be, "Oh they forgot to put it on the original sign and had to add it later."

I don't recall seeing such airplane images on Metro Milwaukee BGSs before.  ISTR that BGS directionals to the airport were always spelled out "Gen. Mitchell International Airport".

Also, I had some time off today and drove down to the Milwaukee area to check out the progress on the Mitchell interchange, among other things.  I found it interesting that someone has attached a USA flag to one of the overhead sign bridges on the ramp leading up to the EB to NB tunnels - something that I have DEFINITELY never seen before!.

Mike

[triplemultiplex]

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) is studying a southern extension of the Lake Parkway to WI 100.
http://www.sewrpc.org/SEWRPC/Transportation/LakeParkwayExtensionStudy.htm

The extension would be physically similar to the existing parkway; 4 lanes w right shoulder, but not much left shoulder, 40 MPH (ha!) SL & restrictions on trucks.  This pdf has a bunch of maps of the rough concept.

http://www.sewrpc.org/SEWRPCFiles/CommissionFiles/CommitteeFiles/2011/2011-11-14-minutes-lpes-att-01.pdf

I attended a PIM for this proposal this week and there seems to be a lot of support in the south shore suburbs.  I and several others talked with some of the folks there about the atrocious jughandle interchange proposed for College Ave.  (FYI, they put it in the SW quadrant because the Post Office was supposed to build a distribution center in what would be the SE quadrant, but now it sounds like that might not happen.) I also brought up the idea of having the cross-streets go over the parkway instead of under so they can also bridge the parallel UP railroad.

Apparently, one of the mayors down there has a long range vision of the Lake Parkway connecting to WI 31 in northern Racine County, in effect creating a much tamer version of the 1960's proposal for the Lake Freeway between Milwaukee and Chicago.

The next step is to hand the project off to WisDOT for preliminary engineering, and development of alternatives since SEWRPC will almost certainly recommend to proceed (SEWRPC is generally regarded as pro-highway).  SEWRPC is accepting public comments for the next two weeks still, so chime in if you like.  See that first URL.

[mgk920]

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) is studying a southern extension of the Lake Parkway to WI 100.
http://www.sewrpc.org/SEWRPC/Transportation/LakeParkwayExtensionStudy.htm

The extension would be physically similar to the existing parkway; 4 lanes w right shoulder, but not much left shoulder, 40 MPH (ha!) SL & restrictions on trucks.  This pdf has a bunch of maps of the rough concept.

http://www.sewrpc.org/SEWRPCFiles/CommissionFiles/CommitteeFiles/2011/2011-11-14-minutes-lpes-att-01.pdf

I attended a PIM for this proposal this week and there seems to be a lot of support in the south shore suburbs.  I and several others talked with some of the folks there about the atrocious jughandle interchange proposed for College Ave.  (FYI, they put it in the SW quadrant because the Post Office was supposed to build a distribution center in what would be the SE quadrant, but now it sounds like that might not happen.) I also brought up the idea of having the cross-streets go over the parkway instead of under so they can also bridge the parallel UP railroad.

Apparently, one of the mayors down there has a long range vision of the Lake Parkway connecting to WI 31 in northern Racine County, in effect creating a much tamer version of the 1960's proposal for the Lake Freeway between Milwaukee and Chicago.

The next step is to hand the project off to WisDOT for preliminary engineering, and development of alternatives since SEWRPC will almost certainly recommend to proceed (SEWRPC is generally regarded as pro-highway).  SEWRPC is accepting public comments for the next two weeks still, so chime in if you like.  See that first URL.

Isn't the existing WI 794 Lake Parkway open to normal big-rig truck traffic?  Why the need for restrictions farther south?

I noticed the apartment complex that was built on the original Lake Freeway ROW at Rawson Ave.  I'd love to be around if and when that road might someday need upgrading to six lanes!



Also, I agree with your thoughts on College Ave and the other crossroads.  In addition, I would include provisions at WI 100 for a farther southward extension.  Wouldn't a potential WI 31 connection with that be at about the Racine-Kenosha County line?

Mike

[Stephane Dumas]

For the junction on College Avenue, (we could even include Oklahoma Avenue as well) I taught of the following based a bit on a more or less similar pattern at the junction of PQ-273 with TCH-20 at St-Apolinnaire or the ramps at the junction of PQ-116 with PQ-112 with a railroad close to the "mini-freeway" or "mini-expressway".
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=fr&ll=46.615061,-71.51443&spn=0.005711,0.009645&t=k&z=17
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=fr&ll=45.5074,-73.429613&spn=0.005827,0.009645&t=k&z=17

[mgk920]

^^

For the last few years, the USPS was looking at using the vacant land at the SE quadrant of that proposed overcrossing as the site of a new regional mail processing center, but, since those plans may now be up in the air, that might be doable.

The only difference is that I would run College Ave over both the parkway and the railroad.

Mike

[triplemultiplex]

On Wednesday, I attended a PIM for the upcoming Hoan Bridge and Lake Interchange redecking.
The maps they had up are here:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/seregion/794hoan/public.htm

The meeting was held in the SEWRPC building in downtown which lies in the shadow of the Marquette Interchange on St. Paul Ave.  Damn that thing looks cool from underneath, too.

Starting next fall, WisDOT will redeck the Hoan Bridge completely.  They're taking it down to the steel structure.  They'll do southbound first, be done by Summerfest 2014 then do the northbound lanes after festival season.
WisDOT will be employing a zipper lane during construction with two lanes in the direction of commuter travel, one against.  That should be pretty cool.  They will also construct a temporary ramp on the ground by Lincoln Memorial Drive so traffic can bypass closed bridges in the Lake Interchange; essentially, traffic will exit at Lincoln Memorial and use a temporary ramp to connect to the existing WB entrance ramp.  If you think that WB corner on 794 is tight now, it's got nothing on this temporary setup we'll have.

The Lake Interchange and all the ramps east of the river will be resurfaced while the entrance/exit ramps to/from Jackson & Van Buren Streets will be completely replaced with new bridges.

So that's what's happening starting next year, but a little further on the horizon there might be some interesting stuff going on there.  I showed the redesign I made in the fictional thread to some engineers, but before I did, there were a couple other people there pitching another good idea on what to do with Lake Interchange.  They had a nice rendering of Lincoln Memorial Drive continuing south between the Hoan Bridge ramps and connecting to Harbor Drive.  From there, they proposed that a road continue west over the Milwaukee River via an abandoned railroad r/w and tie into Florida Street in the Walker's Point neighborhood.  Well I thought that was pretty awesome and worked it into my Lake Interchange concept.
So you don't have to hunt for it in the redesigning interchanges thread, here it is:


As for my proposal, the SEWRPC engineers I talked to were reasonably impressed.  Apparently they are kicking around some similar ideas regarding having a single WB entrance/EB exit east of the river rather than two.  They liked how I moved all the ramps to the right side. I get the impression that's something they might not be doing for Jackson/Van Buren Streets since they are rebuilding them completely as-is next year.
Unless I misunderstood, there seems to be talk from the city of eliminating the ramps between Lincoln Memorial Drive and the Hoan Bridge in their ultimate design.  That seems a tad foolish to me as Lincoln Memorial Drive functions very well as an artery for east side neighborhoods.
Regardless, it seems a lot of people are really high on the idea of locating Milwaukee's next great skyscraper at the junction of Lincoln Memorial Drive and Clybourn Avenue.  So this Lake Interchange land that would get freed up by a redesign won't sit vacant for years like the Park East land.

[Brandon]

^^ I like this redesign.

[Revive 755]

Personally, I'd rather keep direct access to/from Lincoln Memorial to/from the E-W portion of I-794 rather than having to sit through a few more poorly coordinated stoplights that seem to stay green for non-existent cross traffic for an eternity (a type of signal that seems quite common in Milwaukee).

[Milwaukee, WY]

On Wednesday, I attended a PIM for the upcoming Hoan Bridge and Lake Interchange redecking.
The maps they had up are here:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/seregion/794hoan/public.htm

The meeting was held in the SEWRPC building in downtown which lies in the shadow of the Marquette Interchange on St. Paul Ave.  Damn that thing looks cool from underneath, too.

Starting next fall, WisDOT will redeck the Hoan Bridge completely.  They're taking it down to the steel structure.  They'll do southbound first, be done by Summerfest 2014 then do the northbound lanes after festival season.
WisDOT will be employing a zipper lane during construction with two lanes in the direction of commuter travel, one against.  That should be pretty cool.  They will also construct a temporary ramp on the ground by Lincoln Memorial Drive so traffic can bypass closed bridges in the Lake Interchange; essentially, traffic will exit at Lincoln Memorial and use a temporary ramp to connect to the existing WB entrance ramp.  If you think that WB corner on 794 is tight now, it's got nothing on this temporary setup we'll have.

The Lake Interchange and all the ramps east of the river will be resurfaced while the entrance/exit ramps to/from Jackson & Van Buren Streets will be completely replaced with new bridges.

So that's what's happening starting next year, but a little further on the horizon there might be some interesting stuff going on there.  I showed the redesign I made in the fictional thread to some engineers, but before I did, there were a couple other people there pitching another good idea on what to do with Lake Interchange.  They had a nice rendering of Lincoln Memorial Drive continuing south between the Hoan Bridge ramps and connecting to Harbor Drive.  From there, they proposed that a road continue west over the Milwaukee River via an abandoned railroad r/w and tie into Florida Street in the Walker's Point neighborhood.  Well I thought that was pretty awesome and worked it into my Lake Interchange concept.
So you don't have to hunt for it in the redesigning interchanges thread, here it is:


As for my proposal, the SEWRPC engineers I talked to were reasonably impressed.  Apparently they are kicking around some similar ideas regarding having a single WB entrance/EB exit east of the river rather than two.  They liked how I moved all the ramps to the right side. I get the impression that's something they might not be doing for Jackson/Van Buren Streets since they are rebuilding them completely as-is next year.
Unless I misunderstood, there seems to be talk from the city of eliminating the ramps between Lincoln Memorial Drive and the Hoan Bridge in their ultimate design.  That seems a tad foolish to me as Lincoln Memorial Drive functions very well as an artery for east side neighborhoods.
Regardless, it seems a lot of people are really high on the idea of locating Milwaukee's next great skyscraper at the junction of Lincoln Memorial Drive and Clybourn Avenue.  So this Lake Interchange land that would get freed up by a redesign won't sit vacant for years like the Park East land.

I like your design quite a bit. Hopefully they work something like that in to whatever they ultimately do. That piece of land is too important for it to be screwed up for another 50 years. I agree with you too, that removing the ramps to Lincoln memorial drive would be dumb.

[DaBigE]

Regardless, it seems a lot of people are really high on the idea of locating Milwaukee's next great skyscraper at the junction of Lincoln Memorial Drive and Clybourn Avenue.  So this Lake Interchange land that would get freed up by a redesign won't sit vacant for years like the Park East land.

I'll believe that skyscraper when I see steel going up in the air.  With all the current vacant commercial space downtown, who would be willing to take such a large risk on adding more?  As for the interchange, I also agree that it would be a mistake to not connect with Lincoln Memorial Drive.  That ramp is a nice, efficient way to get people out of the festival grounds in a hurry.  That and it's also very convenient for when I visit my relatives that live on the east side of Milwaukee.

[mgk920]

I like those musings, too, but would add roundabouts at Clybourn/Lincoln Memorial and Michigan/Lincoln Memorial.  These would make traffic flow much more smoothly and allow easier access between I-794 to the south and the area around the Summerfest Grounds.

Also, since the Marquette rebuild, I have been thinking of the block bounded by Clybourn, James Lovell (7th), 8th and Michigan, the site of the former Clybourn Ave loop onramp to westbound I-94 in the Marquette interchange, as being the ideal location for a new signature tall building.  We shall see on sites for new signature tall buildings in downtown Milwaukee, assuming that the state's business climate is indeed improving.

Mike

[triplemultiplex]

I'll believe that skyscraper when I see steel going up in the air.  With all the current vacant commercial space downtown, who would be willing to take such a large risk on adding more?

Well I'm assuming any redevelopment would be mixed use with any large tower(s) dominated by residences.  It's been a long time since a high rise has gone up in Milwaukee that was strictly office space.  It's all about mixed use these days; enable 24/7 activity, diversify the revenue streams and such.

[triplemultiplex]

Good news today as WisDOT reopened all lanes of EB I-94 between the Zoo and the Marquette interchanges.  This ends a 2 year project to repave the freeway and redeck a few overpasses in Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties on either side of the looming Zoo Interchange project.

As it happened, I had to drive through the work zone last night and witnessed the final striping operations that wrapped up the project.
So if anyone's coming to a Brewer game or heading to one of the festivals on the lakefront, you now have clear sailing.

Down in the Mitchell Interchange, the SB c/d lane between the Mitchell and College Ave has been open for a month thus re-establishing access from downtown to the airport via freeway.  We're still a month or two away from the completion of the NB c/d lane and the new widest cross-section of freeway in the state of Wisconsin (2-5-2-3 for a couple blocks around Edgerton Ave).

[hobsini2]

Striping. WOOOHOOO! j/k

[DaBigE]

witnessed the final striping operations that wrapped up the project.

Epoxy with grooved in wet reflective tape, or all grooved tape?  Sorry, hobsini2 sparked my curiosity.

[triplemultiplex]

WisDOT has a new website for the Zoo Interchange reconstruction.

http://projects.511wi.gov/web/zoo-interchange-project



Unfortunately, the link for a pdf of the whole project is not working yet.  But I've got my copy of the preferred alternative from a few months ago for my reference.

Work on some arterial streets in the area has already begun with more to start after the Wisconsin State Fair.  We'll see the first orange barrels on the freeway next year at US 45 and Swan Blvd.

(larger version not yet available )

WisDOT also has a new study starting up for the reconstruction of I-43 between Silver Spring Dr and Mequon Rd (WI 167) on the metro area's north side.  They've got some PIM's next week to solicit input from the public.  I'll definitely attend one.

http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/seregion/43/index.htm

The area of this project will have to address one of Milwaukee's crappiest bottlenecks; the transition from 3 lanes to 2 NB at Silver Spring Dr.  This could get interesting because rich suburban NIMBY's in these wealthy north shore suburbs have successfully killed expansions in the past.  I think there was/is even a state law that supposedly would prevent expansion through this area.
But it is needed badly.  I avoid rush hour(s) up there whenever possible.  Not only are there capacity issues, but around Good Hope Road it is the shittiest excuse for a freeway in this region.  Everything is severely deficient; sightlines, drainage, bridge clearances, shoulders; it's like your car turned into a Delorean with a flux capacitor and took you back to 1955.  And I need not start in again on the hairpin-tight ramps at Brown Deer Rd. rebuilt as-is c. 2010. 

[nwi_navigator_1181]

If I may ask, how's I-94 looking from the WI/IL state line to the Marquette Interchange? My wife and I are planning a trip up there in September, and I just need to know what to be on the lookout for. I look forward to the ride.

[colinstu]

http://projects.511wi.gov/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=37d818d2-a2bc-4a85-b870-204820e3376a&groupId=15899

Above is a link to pdf of the larger version of Triple's 2nd pic.

Also, new video uploaded by WisDOT showing off the new zoo http://youtu.be/AKryL9HqKfk

[triplemultiplex]

If I may ask, how's I-94 looking from the WI/IL state line to the Marquette Interchange? My wife and I are planning a trip up there in September, and I just need to know what to be on the lookout for. I look forward to the ride.

The only major slowdown will be around Kenosha where it's down to two lanes in each direction.  Could be more of a problem if you're coming through on a Friday.
There are other spots with construction, (7 mile Rd, Drexel Ave, 6th St) but it's not as disruptive as the stretch between WI 50 and WI 158.
You can always check the project's site for any short term closures as your trip draws near.
http://www.plan94.org/

If you haven't tried out the new tunnel ramps in the Mitchell Interchange yet, they're worth a little side trip.  You can hit 'em both much easier on your northbound trip.

[nwi_navigator_1181]

So I take it they're doing the expansion in portions versus doing it all at once, like what ISHTA did to the Tri-State Tollway (construction zones in areas where the road is not four lanes in each direction, with stretches up to 30 miles)? I was last in Kenosha in 2008, when the Tri-State reconstruction was in full swing...kinda nightmarish.

As for the Mitchell Interchange tunnels, I will definitely give them a try as I head into the city. Thanks for the tips!