DOT ready to listen on Hoan Bridge bike, pedestrian options
Engineers planning the reconstruction of the Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge will listen to ideas for the addition of a bike and pedestrian lane during a town hall meeting in Bay View on Tuesday night.
Nearly a decade after rejecting a bike-lane proposal, the planners will take another look at how access for nonmotorized traffic could be accommodated during the reconstruction set to begin in 2013. The DOT will make its decision - yes or no on the nonmotorized addition to the Hoan - by late fall, according to Brian Roper, design supervisor for the I-794/Hoan Bridge project.
The decision on the bike lane would be folded into the engineering work for the larger rehabilitation. Engineering for that project is set to be done in spring 2012.
Roper said the creation of a bike and pedestrian path, either on the current bridge or an addition, would fit into the current estimate of $275 million to $350 million for the upcoming reconstruction.
The options being studied include closing one or more traffic lanes to accommodate nonmotorized vehicles, widening the bridge in some fashion to add the bike/pedestrian path or suspending a secondary bridge under the current structure.
A proposal to close a traffic lane was rejected in 2002, in part to maintain traffic flow during the reconstruction of the Marquette Interchange. That project is finished and the Hoan rehabilitation planning provides another opportunity to consider the options, Roper said.
Local legislators organized the meeting, which will be held in the Beulah Brinton Community Center, 2555 S. Bay St. The session will start at 5 p.m. and finish at 7.
Cycling advocates have been rallying to turn out a big crowd for the meeting. In this piece, Dave Schlabowske calls it "a watershed moment for bicycling in Wisconsin."
69 Comments for "DOT ready to listen on Hoan Bridge bike, pedestrian options"
I agree that freeways are not appropriate for bicyclists. Roads however are different. Bicyclists have every right to ride on ANY unrestricted road. Furthermore, they have every right to utilize an entire lane.
Changing the lane layout on the Hoan is a great idea. Bicycle lanes should be provided on every street.
The wind is not an issue for motorcycles, why would it be a problem for bicycles? Also, what difference does it make if the cars, trucks and buses are going 35 or 60? If you hit a bicyclist it's probably going to be fatal regardless of speed.
The truth is that drivers want to own the road and not share with smaller, slower bicycles. Selfish inconsiderate drivers are the scum of the earth. You font own the road anymore than anyone else does.
I ride a bicycle, I pay taxes, I have a right to ride on the roads, in traffic ad you have to deal with it.
DrWhite Aug 22, 2011 4:26 PM
AXPAVEO Aug 22, 2011 4:32 PM
As it has been discussed at-length, the bridge, even newly constructed, will be coming down relatively soon.
Tear the bridge down now.
Develop the lakefront, and turn it from industrial storage lots to commercial and residential lots.
Showcase the Milwaukee waterfront, like Chicago has done.
No?
Simply bend over to the DOT, ONCE AGAIN?
Ok, that makes sense.
For all the talk about no-bid contracts and union employees getting fat on government waste, when it comes to scratching the proverbial backs of their donors, Scott Walker and the GOP are onboard with this, "boondoggle", very quickly.
Choo choo?
How about coocku?
GregJennings85 Aug 22, 2011 4:48 PM
FRS Aug 22, 2011 4:50 PM
According to WisDOT, the Hoan carries 40,100 vehicles/day on its 6 lanes. By contrast, the same document shows I-43 south of Brown Deer Rd (4 lanes, I believe) carrying 75,900/day and I-894/I-43 east of 76th (6 lanes) carrying 121,000/day.
source: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/counts/docs/milwaukee/milwaukee-highways2009.pdf
Rebuilding the Hoan as a 6 lane bridge would be a huge waste of money.
TransitRider Aug 22, 2011 4:55 PM
FRS Aug 22, 2011 4:55 PM
Ron Swanson Aug 22, 2011 5:07 PM
development for the entire city of Milwaukee. But I am the first to admit
that I do not have hard data to back it up.
However, there is some hard data about a recent dedicated bike lane
that was implemented in Chicago. While it is not directly applicable
because it was not a bridge, it does speak to the issue of general usage
by the cycling public.
Chicago spent $140,000 on a "Protected" bike lane (they put up flexible
reflective posts). Did it pay off? You be the judge.
According to the traffic study done after the protected lane was installed
"Recent morning rush hour traffic counts show a 58 percent increase in
bike traffic at Kinzie and Clinton since the cycle track was built, up from
413 bicyclists from this time last year to 656 cyclists. And traffic counts
taken last Wednesday morning showed that 48 percent of the
southbound rush hour vehicles on Milwaukee at Kinzie were bikes – 819
cycles compared to 892 motor vehicles"
Think for a moment if there were congested ares of Milwaukee where you
could significantly reduce the number of cars on the road like this.
The whole point of a complete streets initiative is to use your assets
wisely and to diversify the modes of transportation. Everybody wins when
you accomplish that. Adding a bike/ped lane to the Hoan would likely help
achieve that goal. And since the Bridge is scheduled to be re-built
already the incremental cost would be a fraction of doing it from scratch
(and certainly a fraction of a new car lane).
BDWIRunner Aug 22, 2011 5:12 PM
I call shenanigans on your claim to have done alot of biking in the area. I live at the south end of the Hoan bridge and your claim that not many people make the ride between Bay View and downtown is almost laughable; I don't think there is a more heavily biked area outside of sections of the east side. Your further assertion that the road routes are "adequate" would be laughable if I had a sense of humor about the many times I have nearly been clipped by cars (and once when I did!)while riding up 1st Street through Walker's Point.
Bob81 Aug 22, 2011 5:17 PM
MU82 Aug 22, 2011 5:17 PM
along the lake and lake drive. The riding up there is beautiful and I would
see tons of people every time. But riding through the city was easily the
most dangerous part of the trip. Luckily I was only hit once by a driver
who clearly didn't want me to be on the roads. But I was put into
dangerous situations way too often because simply put, those roads are
not built for cyclist. With such a wonderful trail and road system north
and south of the bridge, there is a clear need for something to connect
them. It seems obvious to me that building in a bike and pedestrian path
along the Hoan would unify the trail system and be a much safer and
spectacular way to get across that area. In addition, it would reduce the number of bike on the roads downtown, which any way you look at it is dangerous. Getting all this for what can be considered one, maybe 2
pennies in the bucket; we'd be insane to pass up this opportunity.
jhmaloney Aug 22, 2011 5:17 PM
Implicit in that argument is the assumption that driver "user fees" (gas tax, vehicle registration fees & wheel taxes) somehow pay for the Hoan.
That simply is not true. Drivers do not fully pay for roads via "user fees".
On the Hoan Bridge, the gas tax (at 51c/gal, 25 mpg, and 2 miles of bridge) brings in less than $600,000/year. At that rate, it would take about 500 years to collect enough gas tax for just the $300 million redecking project.
And if you throw in the $75/year registration fee and the $20 wheel tax (falsely assuming that nobody from, say, Oak Creek ever uses the Hoan), you get less than $2.4 million/year (assuming 25,000 vehicles). Add that to the $600 thousand from the gas tax and you get about $3 million/year in total Hoan Bridge "user fees". At $3 million/year, it will take 100 years just to cover the Hoan's new deck--which might last 20-40 years if we are lucky.
How can anybody look at these numbers and assert that highway "user fees" cover the cost of building and maintaining highways? Illinois' toll roads are paid by user fees, but Wisconsin's roads are not.
TransitRider Aug 22, 2011 5:18 PM
Developing the lakefront, and turning it from industrial storage lots to commercial and residential lots might sound nice, and a great idea...but remember that the cost of YEARS of ground water contamination (since it was used as an oil and coal port) is going to cost millions more.
The contamination in the soil has to be a factor when considering building on it. The cost of removing other ground contamination in the area around Howard Avenue was so prohibitive that they almost didn't build the off ramps there. And that site under the bridge where there were once 50 more other oil storage tanks that have since been removed used to be is going to be much worse. Those tanks used to pump fuel all the way to the airport along the railroad tracks!
And, since most of the land is filled in celery farms and swamps, (thats why it was called JONES ISLAND), it will be much more expensive to build on it for office structures or high rises, as compared to a few pilings for bridge supports.
NormanNoShore Aug 22, 2011 5:24 PM
I thought the scores of pictures and video of little kids making the ride over the Hoan Bridge during this last years UPAF would put an end to the ridiculous claims of "it's too steep!".
For those of you that missed it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnKMxH3CYFM
And as far as wind shear, I suggest taking a little trip and taking a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge or the Brooklyn Bridge. For some reason neither of those seem to have a problem with bicyclists getting picked up and blown in the ocean.
Bob81 Aug 22, 2011 5:25 PM