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"
http://overthebarsinmilwaukee.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/why-bike-the-hoan/
MU82 Aug 22, 2011 5:44 PM
So odon here is a study from 2003 as stated in the link that Tom Held provided- "As wonderful a trail as the Elroy Sparta is, according to the last trail counts done in 2003, the two segments of Oak Leaf Trail that dead end at either end of the Hoan Bridge attract nearly 80,000 people in one month alone. Infrared counters set up in October of 2003 revealed that almost 40,000 trips were made on the trails that book-end the Hoan Bridge"
So I am sure you would agree that 40,000 people using the trail in a month means it is heavily utilized. This study was done in October, so obviously it would be much higher in the summer.
MU82 Aug 22, 2011 5:51 PM
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But it's a fricken expressway. You don't see me riding my bike up and down hwy 43 or 45. Seriously.
But no, I don't see riding over the bridge to be physically challenging, althought it may be for many in this area. We have so many other things to spend out money on, i don't see any added value.
Sparky101 Aug 22, 2011 6:10 PM
How many days below 45 degrees do you see people in San Francisco or Marin County, let alone people walking in a snowstorm and salt spray, using the Golden Gate Bridge?
But I will give you the comment about the Brooklyn Bridge...but since its at the center lane and between cars, it doesnt have that WOW factor that one can get from looking over the edge like the GG!
NormanNoShore Aug 22, 2011 6:22 PM
be an attraction. (Of course, in season)
Odde Aug 22, 2011 6:28 PM
RvrwstBrewFan Aug 22, 2011 6:48 PM
for the bridge. Just that it would be equitable for people using the bike
lane to pay for the privilege.
If people want this path, they should be willing to pay part of the cost.
Just like the car lanes, the bike lane would require some kind of
maintenance. Why should car drivers have to take up the total cost?
Cyclists are getting a freebie on the streets as it is. They should have to
pay the same wheel tax cars do.
STB1 Aug 22, 2011 7:56 PM
Sounds like a deal, so long as car lanes are omitted from all roads with a speed limit of 25 or under.
I have as much right to a lane of traffic as you do. Regardless of the speed limit. Expressways and interstates obviously excluded.
If you eliminated bicycle lanes on roads over 35mph, where would the bicyclists ride? You know it's illegal to ride on a sidewalk unless you're a kid, right? I think the limit is 10yrs old. Maybe 12.
SideWALKS are for walking. Roads are for vehicles. Vehicles include cars, trucks, buses, bicycles, tractors, horses, buggies, wagons and everything else.
You do not own the road. It belongs to all of us and must be shared. The burden is on the driver to be aware of slower traffic and bicycles. If you run one down, there's a good chance you'll face charges. So pay attention and give bicycles a wide berth.
DrWhite Aug 22, 2011 7:57 PM
I happen to agree with the likes of WTMJ talk show host Jeff Wagner on this one. The Park East freeway tear down has failed to development and looks like a moonscape. Unlike the Park East, there are viable business and government interests under and by the Hoan. You have the Milwaukee Harbor, the salt piles, oil tanks, shipping container storage, some industrial facilities and the lovely smelling Jones Island wastewater treatment facility along with the Milorganite plant. With river traffic, the bridge will have frequent openings.
Is anyone really going to want to buy a $500,000 condo with such a view or eat in a restaurat with such lovely smells? Relocate these business and government infrastructure? Won't happen. No where to build a new wastewater plant, and the coal and salt and other commodiities come in by ships to be reloaded onto trucks.
The engineers have already said the support piers and main girders of the Hoan are in good condition. The steel only needs sandblasting, new primer and new paint. However, the entire deck needs to be replaced, but that's normal on a bridge after about 20 or 25 years of life. Rememeber, the High Rise bridge was redecked in the late 80s.
JRWOakCreek Aug 22, 2011 7:57 PM
To Norman- you are correct that the bike lane would not be used very heavily in the winter, but for 9 months a year it would get heavily used and the die hards would use it all winter.
To auto engineering- The bike path will be separated from traffic by barriers. Just having a bike lane right next to traffic would be crazy. Safety will be a huge part of the design.
MU82 Aug 22, 2011 8:03 PM
highway speed/expressway bridges across the US and elsewhere.
Obviously this mixed use lane will be distinct and separate from the traffic
lanes. The ones I like biking on the best have been "hung" off the side of
the main structure. This typically allows for better approaches as well as
access restriction (gates or retractable pylons).
As many posters have noted the current methods of getting from the
south side to downtown are "sub-optimal" at best as the surface routes
are narrow, crowded, in poor repair and oftentimes dangerous. As far as
usage of new routes it is something of a chicken/egg proposition. If the
community can get behind this and are creative in its design and
implementation I believe that many cyclists will use it regularly (year
round) and visitors will be excited by the proposition of biking on a nearly continuous route from Grant Park up through the East Side. Milwaukee's
lakefront is truly one of its great features. Exploit it, promote it, enjoy it--
build it.
buitternut Aug 22, 2011 8:09 PM
I have possibly read some of the stupidest reasons to spend $ that I have had the chance to tonight. To all of you morons who keep touting that this lane won't cost anything-or be so minimal it would be a waste not to build out-
zym4 Aug 22, 2011 8:57 PM
I have possibly read some of the stupidest reasons to spend $ that I have had the chance to tonight. To all of you morons who keep touting that this lane won't cost anything-or be so minimal it would be a waste not to build it-when is the last time milw built anything that didn't cost a fortune? This boondoggle will be just as under utilized as Barrett's asinine streetcar and the car speed rail to that liberal dump Madison. You people have never seen a stupid project you don't want to throw $ at. I suppose this will somehow help the poor and disenfranchised too...?
zym4 Aug 22, 2011 9:02 PM