Last week, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) gave a presentation regarding the possibility of adding a bike trail on the Hoan Bridge. The DOT laid out five potential alternatives, that covered a wide range of costs, and potential impacts such as traffic congestion.

This week there are two important public meetings regarding the future of Milwaukee’s built environment.

Should the Hoan Bridge have a bike and pedestrian path or not? According to comment section of the Journal Sentinel it appears that there are numerous ‘reasons’ why a bike lane should not be built on the Hoan Bridge, but are they really valid?

The second phase of the redevelopment of the Milwaukee Intermodal Station will begin construction next month. The $18 million project, which has been in the works since as early as 2005, will be a significant, long overdue, upgrade to the more than forty-year-old train shed.

The debate over the reconstruction of the Hoan Bridge is one that has ignited controversy in Milwaukee for almost a full year now. Southsiders under the direction of Supervisor Patricia Jursik have united around the Save the Hoan Coalition. Meanwhile, Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman has presented a differing vision for the future of the Hoan with eight principles that should be followed in any reconstruction effort. There is an awful lot of confusion around the issue, and the manner in which WisDOT has handled it is far from their usual course. This article examines the potential source of the debate, and a potential outcome that is a win-win scenario for both the City of Milwaukee taxbase, and southside and suburban commuters.

Like the temperature outside, the Hoan Bridge reconstruction debate will heat up over the next few weeks. Alderman Robert Bauman, who represents downtown Milwaukee and the north end of the bridge, recently issued a press release that details how the city will likely position itself on the issue with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).

The production of renewable energy continues to move forward in the Midwest as new projects are proposed and government adjusts to make construction of new developments easier. The most noteworthy is the planned 39 acre urban solar power plant in the City of Chicago’s West Pullman neighborhood.

If accent lighting on the interstate isn’t the perfect definition of lipstick on a pig, I don’t know what is. That said I’m not opposed to it. In fact, I think dressing the Marquette Interchange for the prom was a positive step forward. There is, however, only one thing I wish would have happened differently.

The Wisconsin DOT presented the most recent plans for the reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange.  The project team argued that because of the age of the interchange, number of accidents, and predicted congestion that the interchange needs to be rebuilt and widened.  They presented multiple options, all of which included the relocation of at least [...]