The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will hold a Public Information Meeting on the above issue on Thursday, January 26th, at 5 - 7 p.m. at the Village Center Meeting Room (downstairs at the Library).
I plan on attending the meeting on 26th, and hope other folks who are in favor of "Safe Streets for All" can as well.
Unfortunately, unless the DOT’s current position changes between now and then, on the 26th the DOT will indicate its “preferred alternative” is not to add any protected bike lanes (“PBLs”) on Lake Drive in Shorewood. Instead, the DOT will indicate its “preferred alternative” in Shorewood is to have parking at the curb, and just to add conventional bike lanes. (see below):
The DOT’s position in Shorewood is substantially different from its position in Milwaukee. As you may recall, the DOT has approved Milwaukee’s request that PBLs be added to both sides of Lake Drive in Milwaukee up to the Shorewood border when Lake Drive is reconstructed next year in Milwaukee (see below blog article for details). Specifically, the DOT has approved a parking-PBL on the east side of Lake Drive, and a “low-3-foot-wide curb” protected bike lane on the west side of Lake Drive (i.e., on the west side of Lake Drive, there will be the curb, then the bike lane, then a low-3-foot-wide curb, then the southbound vehicle travel lane).
Milwaukee (and in particular the Milwaukee DPW) understands the importance of building protected bike lanes on important streets in Milwaukee (such as Lake Drive), and Milwaukee’s advocacy on this issue with the DOT has paid off.
The primary argument the DOT has raised as to why it has a different approach in Milwaukee compared to Shorewood, is an argument that there are too many driveways that are too close together in Shorewood, for PBLs to be practical. This argument does not have merit, at least not in Shorewood south of Shorewood Boulevard.
The DOT is correct that on part of Lake Drive in Shorewood, driveways are more frequent and closer together than in Milwaukee. But that is not true as to all of Lake Drive in Shorewood. Even if the DOT is unwilling to add a PBL on Lake Drive north of Atwater Park (due to the higher frequency of driveways in that area of Lake Drive), it should continue to be urged to consider a compromise “half-a-loaf” solution. That is, one whereby the Milwaukee parking-PBL that will be constructed on the east side of Lake Drive in 2024 would be extended into Shorewood in 2025, from Edgewood Avenue to Shorewood Boulevard (which is one block south of the intersection of Lake and Capitol).
In that “southern segment” of Lake Drive in Shorewood, the frequency of driveways on the east side of the street is actually lower than the frequency of driveways on the east side of the street in Milwaukee (in the relevant comparison segment, that is, the area from the intersection of Lincoln Memorial Drive and Lake Drive, to the Shorewood border). Let's call those two segments "the Shorewood South Segment," and the "Milwaukee North Segment," to differentuate those two segments from the "Lake Park Segment," the "Atwater Park Segment," and the "Shorewood North Segment." Milwaukee is going to add a parking-PBL in the Milwaukee North Segment. In that segment, the distance is 2640 feet (.5 miles), and there are 22 driveways, which gives one a ratio of 1 driveway on average every 120 feet. In contrast, in the segment of Lake Drive that is north of there (the Shorewood South Segment), the distance is 1718 feet (.33 miles), and there are only 11 driveways, which gives one a ratio of 1 driveway on average ever 156 feet. In other words, in those two segments, driveways in Milwaukee are about 25% closer together. Yet Milwaukee is still building a parking-PBL in that segment.
Despite the above, the closeness of driveways in the Milwaukee North Segment has not resulted in the DOT concluding that constructing a parking-PBL in the Milwaukee North Segment would somehow be unsafe and/or unfeasible.
If a parking-PBL is safe and feasible in the Milwaukee North Segment, a parking-PBL is safe and feasible in the Shorewood South Segment.
Other communities (Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Cambridge, Massachusetss) have installed PBLs on residential streets that have high levels of driveway frequency (even frequencies higher than in the Shorewood North Segment), without problems. The question remains: if other communities can do it, why can't Shorewood?
Further, it is not as if there is some significantly higher demand for on-street parking in the Shorewood South Segment, compared to the Milwaukee North Segment. It must be remembered that no one is talking about building any bike lanes (conventional or protected) in the "Atwater Park Segment" (i.e., the segment from Shorewood Boulevard, north to about a block north of Atwater Park). So we are not talking about the Atwater Park area (where there is a relatively high demand for parking, especially on nice days in the summer); we are instead talking about the "Shorewood South Segment," where there is very little demand for on street parking.
There are college and religious institutions on or near the Milwaukee North Segment that result in demand for on-street parking. Those institutions include UWM itself (a 4 to 5 block walk from Lake Drive), plus the three institutions or institutional buildings that are on Lake Drive in that Milwaukee North Segment (the UWM Hefter Conference Center, the Wisconsin Institute for Torah Studies, and the Chabad Lubovich of Wisconsin). There are no such institutions or institutional buildings in the Shorewood South Segment.
So again, we get back to the point that if a parking-PBL is safe and feasible in the Milwaukee North Segment (even with the higher demand for parking in that segment), a parking-PBL is safe and feasible in the Shorewood South Segment.
One important goal of the redesign of Lake Drive (in both Milwaukee and Shorewood) is traffic calming. Traffic calming contributes to fewer accidents, and less severe accidents. Adding a protected bike lane in Shorewood will have significant traffic calming affects (compared to adding conventional "just paint" lanes). By adding a parking-PBL, drivers perception of Lake Drive will be that it is narrower, which naturally tends to slow traffic. If parking is placed at the curb, drivers will just ignore the paint on the road, and drive in the bike lanes, and drivers' perception of the street won't be changed. They will still see a wide, straight road ahead of them, and will drive at a speed consistent with that perception. Slower vehicle speeds on Lake Drive is what will make Lake Drive a neighborhood residential street again, and a street that is safer for residents and all users.
If anyone has any questions about any of the above, let me know. As I indicated, I hope other friends of safer streets in Shorewood will attend the DOT’s public meeting on the 26th, to urge the Village Board to take a position in favor of a parking-PBL in Shorewood, and to urge the DOT to accept that position.
