Board Approves ‘Vision Zero’ Strategy To End Traffic Deaths

Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County has joined the City of Milwaukee in pledging an ambitious goal of zero deaths or serious injuries on its roadways by 2037.

The commitment is known in transportation planning as Vision Zero, which serves as an umbrella term for both the goal and the many projects and initiatives a government may take to achieve it. The board unanimously approved a resolution affirming the commitment during its final meeting in July Wednesday.

The Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is working through a massive planning project that will open the county and all 19 municipalities up to billions in federal funding for transportation infrastructure projects. One federal requirement for the process is a Vision Zero commitment .

The Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program was created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It has approximately $5 billion to disburse by 2026. The county already received an $800,000 grant to create a “Safety Action Plan” filled with road safety projects for every municipality in the county.

The county has already completed the first phase of the planning effort, which involved a robust public outreach campaign. MCDOT officials organized 22 public meetings across the county last year with the “Safe Streets Roadshow.”

Jeff Sponcia, MCDOT transportation planning manager, told supervisors earlier this year that MCDOT can achieve its Vision Zero goal by setting benchmarks of 25% reductions every three years in fatal and serious injury crashes. Beginning in 2014, fatal and serious injury crashes in Milwaukee started increasing sharply.

The county’s Vision Zero date mirrors the one set by the city. After adopting a Vision Zero policy in 2022, the city has aggressively pursued road projects aimed at constraining reckless driving and reducing these dangerous crashes.

To keep the county from missing out on the massive tranche of federal infrastructure funding, MCDOT Director Donna Brown-Martin took the initiative to have the county lead the planning effort for the Safe Streets program and incorporate projects from all 19 municipalities, avoiding a patchwork of grant submissions from local governments.

“Director Brown-Martin Has had a vision for us to seek out as much federal funding as possible to solve this,” Sponcia said.

Board Approves Opioid Funds

The county board also unanimously approved $8.5 million for seven programs designed in response to the opioid epidemic.

The funding comes from a massive legal settlement the county secured from pharmaceutical companies, drug distributors and corporations that operate pharmacies for their role in creating the opioid epidemic. To date, the county has been awarded approximately $102 million that will be paid out over 18 years.

Read Urban Milwaukee’s coverage of the new programs

Board Confirms Appointment of Corporation Counsel Scott Brown

Corporation Counsel Scott Brown no longer has to use the adjective “acting” in his title.

He was unanimously confirmed as corporation counsel by the county board. As the chief attorney for county government, Brown will serve as legal counsel and litigation services for all of county government, including both the executive and legislative branch.

His predecessor, Margaret Daun, left the position earlier this year to take a job with statewide broadcaster Civic Media. Brown had the full backing of County Executive David Crowley, who advocated for him during a confirmation hearing earlier this month.

Read Urban Milwaukee’s coverage of Brown’s confirmation

County Will Sponsor Grant Application for Advanced Manufacturing Company

With approval from the county board, Lean Design Works will have the county’s sponsorship as it applies for grants from the state of Wisconsin to remediate a contaminated, vacant manufacturing facility in St. Francis.

If the grant application, and the resulting clean-up, are successful, Lean Design Works will move its advanced manufacturing operation from Beloit to St. Francis.

Read Urban Milwaukee’s previous coverage of the project