Planning Done for Major Countywide Street Safety Project

Pinned on concrete curb bump-outs on W. Congress Street at N. 55th Street. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

An extensive, multi-year transportation planning effort is coming to a close.

Since 2022, the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) has been working through a series of steps toward eligibility for federal funding under the Safe Streets and Roads for All Program.

Officials collected extensive public feedback and data and created a comprehensive “safety action plan” with more than 500 potential traffic safety projects across the county. The county also adopted an official “Vision Zero” policy stating it would work to achieve zero deaths on county roads by 2037.

On Tuesday, MCDOT announced that all 19 municipalities in the county had adopted their own safety action plans, officially capping the multiyear planning process. Next, the county and local governments will begin designing and constructing some of the projects identified.

In January, the county was awarded a $25 million grant to begin tackling more than 60 street safety projects across the county. The projects will target dangerous roadways and intersections identified in corridors with high rates of fatal and serious-injury crashes. Planners estimate the projects could reduce these crashes by 26% to 50% along 10 of the 25 dangerous traffic corridors identified during planning.

Many project areas identified during the planning process are found along municipally owned rights of way, requiring buy-in from local governments. With their own plans in hand, local municipalities will also be able to go after federal funding for interventions including new crosswalks, walk signals, bump-outs, traffic signalization and sidewalk expansion.

“Reckless drivers and speeders don’t stop at city or village borders,” County Executive David Crowley said in a statement after the announcement Tuesday. “That’s why we all must work together to address our most hazardous roads and intersections.”

The county will begin designing and building projects in 2027, with all 65 projects to be completed by 2031, according to Jeff Sponcia, MCDOT transportation planning manager.

City of Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride said road safety improvement in his city and others is limited by a lack of funding from the state.

“We don’t get enough money from Madison,” McBride said. “We have such severe restrictions on our ability to pay for what we need; we cannot keep up with our needs, especially when it comes to road improvements.”