Janet, a Town of Brookfield resident, has lived in the Elmbrook area for nearly 40 years and is an avid gardener and volunteer. Her blog focuses on the city and town of Brookfield – past, present and future.
Managing Bluemound Road traffic and a suggested interchange at Calhoun Road caused quite a stir.
Here are some comments.
How can you believe an interchange will relieve traffic on Bluemound Rd.? With all the new development on Biuemound and more to come (hundreds of condos, apartments, office spaces, more new restaurants and stores, what would another interchange accomplish?
Does all this development and road widening in district six improve your quality of life? Are your taxes lower? Mine aren't. Do you enjoy your drive on Bluemound Rd.? Will an interchange make it easier for semi trailer trucks, delivery trucks and other vehicles; will the noise and pollution make your life better?
When you say it will make Bluemound Rd. better you say it will take traffic off the road, but think how much more it will add. Is that what you want? Be careful what you wish for. New Berlin and their vacant land to the south is just waiting for us to spend the sixty-million for an interchange. Think before write in your blog. That interchange might be the worst thing to happen to this city except maybe two new high schools. Is that what you call progress?
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Nice piece on Bluemound Rd. Perhaps the answer is for the state to build overpasses on Moorland, Calhoun and Barker Rds. and make Bluemound Rd. 'limited access'. Or perhaps they could block off two lanes in each direction taking us back to the days of Carters Diner - a great place for teens to buy their beer on their way out to the Bluemound Drive In!
I'd vote for either! Either fix will solve the traffic problem on Bluemound Rd.
An update from the city.
My last blog mentioned the city didn’t respond to my initial request on 12/14. Alderman Scott Berg followed through and I did hear from Administration Director, Dean Marquardt, on 1/10.
We sincerely apologize for the delayed response. The City of Brookfield has not reviewed the Wisconsin Department of Transportation report, which is the culmination of over a year of development and study resulting in the recommendations. You may have already contacted the DOT on this matter, if not that would be an excellent resource for your questions. The per event or response costs are not tracked by public safety in the City of Brookfield and are not staffed to conduct studies requested by outside entities. Complex studies of this nature are generally through the direction of the Common Council.
I’m glad the Town of Brookfield was able to provide its information. In 2006, there were 231 accidents on the town’s portion of Bluemound Road (roughly 1 ½ miles). The town estimates the total cost of police and EMS personnel responding at about $60,000.
