Any preventable traffic death is one too many

Any preventable traffic death is one too many

The goal of Wisconsin's Department of Transport (WisDOT) is to pursue a vision of achieving zero deaths on Wisconsin roads, a goal that I am in complete accord with.

By 2013, WisDOT aim is to reduce traffic fatalities, injuries, and crashes on Wisconsin roadways by 5% from rolling 5-year averages.

Safety is the primary reason for the improvement project and development of Milwaukee Street in Delafield; that is the reason given by according to the Public Works Committee at the last public works committee meeting held on the 5th September in Delafield (click here for the meeting notes).

In fact 3 key members of the committee cited it as the single most important reason for undertaking the project and in no order they were Dan Jashinsky (the chairperson) , Art Baumann and Pat Hawley. This was reiterated many times in the meeting. Tom Hafner referred to the City's 2010 Comprehensive plan which under Goal 2 (A) Establish a safe pedestrian and bicycle circulation system throughout the City that connects neighboring communities. The system should consist of a combination of sidewalks, off-street trails, and paved shoulders on collectors and arterials. And at the conclusion of the meeting Pat stated that the main job of the engineers was to provide safety for all.

So that's that, lets go ahead with this because it part of the Comprehensive plan and it will enhance the safety of the City's citizens.............

A man with a hammer

Well, it struck me after the meeting, that on more than one occasion Dan referred to the need for balance in the planning process. However I would question this balance, not least because 57% of the committee are engineers.

To a man with a hammer; the world is made of nails. If you have a committee made up almost entirely of road engineers then their world will be one of roads, road furniture and infrastructure.

This leaves me kind of cold.

So with this in mind and with good advice from Tim Aicher (Tim suggested that we make suggestions to help improve safety a few residents got together to brain storm a new fresh solution.

And this is what we came up with and presented to the city council on the 1st October

  

It incorporates safety first and foremost, accommodates the increase in traffic flow that will come from the new Delafield Woods development and it ensures that the City council behaves in a fiscally responsible way.

Did the city Councillors and the Public Works Committee even consider this? No they haven't and you know they need to because if it is safety that is driving this project then they it needs discussing. After all if a death can be prevented then it needs to be, and if this is not discussed, and there was an accident that could have been prevented, how will Pat, Art, Dan, Tom and the city council feel?

Oh have a look at this:

Tom Hafner refers to the city's master plan which clearly states that Milwaukee Street was not a designated trail route.

 I'm not so sure that this is about safety you know, there is other stuff going on that might have an impact on Milwaukee Street. Take 2 minutes out to view this

And given that the award winning Sanctuary (it was designed for 20 homes with none sold and only 2 built ) is just down the road, perhaps this is about something else..........

A bit of a disaster really and it dumps water onto both Main Street and Milwaukee Street

  And finally don't think I have given up on Trees. Two of Milwaukee Streets oldest trees have been nominated as being Champion Trees, tress that the State recognizes that unfortunately the City Council doesn't .

In fact the more you delve into the whole thing something just isn't right.

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