Tag Archives: Pennsylvania

September 15, 2010 · 9:04 pm

On the Nicholson Expansion Meeting

Update: Here is the PowerPoint deck presented at the meeting.

I wanted to thank everyone for turning out for tonight’s Nicholson/Pennsylvania expansion public information meeting.

By my count, about 50 people were there for the presentation by Foth, the engineering firm working on the project. It was informative, and I think most questions were answered.

I will post the PowerPoint deck shown by Foth as soon as I get it, and I (and the city engineer and his staff) are committed to keeping you updated on this project as it goes forward.

Of course, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, and post your comments below.

Leave a comment

Filed under Construction

Tagged as , ,

September 14, 2010 · 7:35 am

Reminder: Nicholson Expansion Meeting Wednesday

Don’t forget that the public information meeting to discuss the staff-recommended option to widen Nicholson/Pennsylvania to four lanes is Wednesday evening at City Hall.

The meeting runs from 5 to 7 p.m., with a presentation starting at 5:30.

City engineering staff, representatives from Foth Engineering and others (including me) will be there to answer any questions you might have about the project. (And I’ll probably learn a bit more about it myself.)

Learn more in my previous post, and I’ll see you there!

Leave a comment

Filed under Construction

Tagged as , ,

September 1, 2010 · 10:03 pm

Public Info Meeting Set to Discuss Recommended Nicholson Alternative

Update: Here is the letter sent to area residents promoting the public information meeting.

A four-lane, undivided Nicholson Avenue connecting College and Rawson — a road that is much safer and moves traffic much more efficiently in better connecting South Milwaukee to Highway 794 and beyond.

That’s the recommendation of engineering staff from South Milwaukee and Oak Creek.

Staff from both cities endorsed the undivided option over a divided road that would have featured a median. The latter would have cost more, taken more land from both cities to build and limited driveway access.

The South Milwaukee Public Works and Public Property Committee heard more details about the recommendation at its meeting on Tuesday night.

And you can learn more about the project — and the undivided option — at a public information meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 at City Hall.

The proposed undivided design has not changed much from the initial public information meeting in June. A few observations:

  • Construction is expected to take place in 2012.
  • The project is expected to cost around $4.5 million, with the state picking up 80 percent of the costs and South Milwaukee and Oak Creek splitting the remaining 20 percent. When you add in extra design and engineering costs, our share may top $600,000.
  • The undivided option will encroach very little on South Milwaukee properties — taking away maybe two feet of the grassy median north Beech Street, for instance. The trees there will remain.
  • It also features sidewalks on both sides of the street, making the road walkable and bikeable.
  • While it won’t solve the Rawson/College congestion issues during rush hour, it will help.
  • The plan also doesn’t include a roundabout, for now. There is still no word from the U.S. Postal Service on its mail sorting facility at College and Pennsylvania, so the drawings you’ll see at the meeting do not include the roundabout that was called for as part of that project. Could that change? Yes. But I feel strongly we have to move ahead on this project with or without the USPS on board.

I look forward to seeing you at the public information meeting. The City Council will likely formally endorse one of the options at a meeting following the public information meeting.

1 Comment

Filed under Construction

Tagged as , ,

October 21, 2009 · 3:13 am

Working Toward a Wider Nicholson Avenue

I take my life into my own hands twice a day while dodging rush-hour traffic on Nicholson/Pennsylvania Avenue on the way to work. In 2012, my commute, and the commute of thousands of others, might get a bit easier.

Work is progressing toward a project that will widen the road from two to four lanes from College Avenue south to Rawson.

Utility relocation is scheduled to begin in 2011, and roadway construction will start in early 2012, according to a request for proposals that was sent out this summer seeking design firms.

Fifteen proposals were submitted, and the RFP was recently awarded to Foth Infrastructure & Environment LLC, which will handle survey work, preparation of alternatives for layout and stormwater management, public information meetings and final project design.

This will be a long process, one that involves South Milwaukee, Oak Creek and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation working together to come up with the best solution for what I believe is a dangerous roadway. I promise to keep you updated on what’s happening with this project as it moves forward.

Of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Do you think widening is necessary? If not, what, if anything, should be done? Post your comments below.

Also, check out this post to learn more about the postal facility project planned for College and Pennsylvania/Nicholson. The status of this project — specifically if the USPS decides to pay for some road improvements — will impact the widening effort. But in the end, no matter what happens with the postal facility, the widening is planned to go on. 

(Thanks to City Engineer Kyle Vandercar for providing these updates.)

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

October 20, 2009 · 3:03 am

What’s up with That Postal Facility, Anyway?

Update: South Milwaukee City Engineer Kyle Vandercar says Oak Creek has sent a letter to the USPS with a November 1 deadline requesting that they verify they are still planning to fund improvements on Pennsylvania/Nicholson from Hickory to College. As stated below, this all plays into plans to improve the entire stretch of Pennsylvania/Nicholson from College to Rawson. I’ll post more on that effort soon. Thanks for the update, Kyle.

That’s the question I posed to Oak Creek City City Administrator Patrick DeGrave today. The answer? Not much.

“No new information,” he wrote in an email. “We continue to work to get the USPS to commit financially to the design and construction of Pennsylvania. The County is doing the same for College.”

As you’ll recall, the plans, originally announced in 2008, called for construction of an 870,000 square-foot mail processing and distribution facility southwest of Pennsylvania and College avenues, bordering South Milwaukee’s 4th District. Included in the plans were upgrades to Pennsylvania/Nicholson and College, to be funded by the postal service. (You’ll recall that a roundabout at Hickory was among those discussions.)

Since then, the postal project has been put on hold, although there were some rumblings this spring that it was back on again. Where does it stand now? I’ll let you know as soon as I know more.

A big thanks to Mr. DeGrave for the update.

Click here for a Journal Sentinel story on the project from last December and another story from South Milwaukee NOW on project delays in February. And here is a good Q&A on the project from the Oak Creek website.

As the NOW story states, widening on Pennsylvania/Nicholson is still in the works in the next couple of years, regardless of the postal project. And if you’ve taken the circuitous College Avenue lately, you know work there is proceeding to prepare for the installation of the runway tunnel.

Check back here for an update on the Pennsylvania/Nicholson widening project in coming days.

4 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,