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- Margaret Mead

STREETS AND TRAFFIC ISSUES AND INFORMATION - Continued

ARCHIVES:

Possible Beltline Crossing at Watts Rd/Forward Drive Communications

GTNA Board Member Allen Youngwood continues to be in communication with State DOT managers. Summaries of all GTNA communications with state and city transportation officials are below.

  • August 2008

    Documents from the DOT about Scheduled Beltline improvements:

    2008 Beltline Improvement descriptions

    2008 Beltline Improvement map

  • February 2008

    Communication from DOT Project Manager Larry Barta on 2/15/2008:

    " The study of grade separation additions to the West Beltline was moved into
    the WisDOT's Beltline Study that extends from the 14 interchange in
    Middleton to the CTH N interchange east of Madison last fall. Phases 1 and 2
    of that Beltline study are nearing completion. They catalogued existing
    conditions and produced interchange improvement recommendations.

    Phase 3 will start up by summer and will resume the look at new Beltline
    crossings, including several in the vicinity of your neighborhood. We will
    have general and neighborhood public meetings as part of that effort. The
    study goal will be to decide which crossings should be built in the future,
    and in what priority order. Only those that pull sufficient traffic and are
    supported by the City are expected to land on the list. Work with
    neighborhoods is a key aspect because that is where changes to traffic
    patterns and increases in traffic volumes will result. Our plans would
    include ways to address and mitigate any anticiapted negative affects that
    could result. Strong advocacy or opposition to any particular crossing will
    probably also figure into the results, as will construction costs and
    related impacts. At this time, we have not done enough study to create such
    a list, or even to say whether or not even 1 new crossing will result.

    • We are making progress on refining Verona Road improvement details. Monthly
    meetings with representatives of abutting neighborhoods, businesses,
    planning and engineering staff from Madison and Fitchburg, agencies and
    other interested stakeholders are ongoing. This is a continuation of the
    meetings held earlier in the study that culminated with the the DEIS and all
    the details it contains regarding 2 alternatives. A supplemental (revised)
    version of that DEIS is to be produced once all discussion and desired
    changes to those 2 alternatives have been completed. More general and
    neighborhood public meetings will be held too as the work progresses. I do
    not yet have a solid time line for when public meetings should be expected
    or when the Supplemental DEIS will be ready, but the construction start goal
    is still somewhere between 2013 and 2015."

    Mr. Barta has been invited to present at the March 3 Neighborhood Forum.

  • July 2007 Update

  • May - June 2007 - Updates

  • March 2007 - Update from the Dept. of Transportation (DOT):

    The Project Manager is now Larry Barta, who says that the DOT expects to begin a re-examination of the project within a few months. GTNA will stay in touch with Mr. Barta and provide information as it is available.

  • March 2006 - Update from the Dept. of Transportation (DOT):
    Paraphrased from e-mail conversations with John Steiner, Project Manager for the Verona Rd. project:

    The West Beltline portion of the EIS (Environmental Impace Statement) has not changed in the last 9 months. Funding is still the issue for when this section of the beltline would be expanded to six lanes. Budgets are getting tighter. The DOT is looking at taking an approach to a bigger picture for the whole Madison Beltline from US 14 to the interstate. This is in part from some of the comments from the City of Madison and also other critical operational and safety problems that the Beltline is experiencing.

    The DOT is looking at some interim safety improvements to the Verona Rd. interchange to help alleviate as much congestion as possible until an ultimate solution can be implemented.

    The FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Statment) has not been completed yet and Mr. Steiner is not sure when that time will be. He thought that the 2011 timeline has probably been moved back to around 2013 and again that is if everything falls into place.

  • June 2005 - Update from the Dept. of Transportation (DOT):
    Paraphrased from e-mail conversations with John Steiner, Project Manager for the Verona Rd. project:

    • There has not been any decision made on the Watts Road crossing or any of the other crossings. Most of the attention has been placed on the Verona Road portion of the study at this time. Funding is still the biggest issue for the whole project. Even if everyone agreed that one of the beltline crossings alternatives was viable, there would still be issues to work out with the funding, and balancing the projects. The crossings would also need to have local government participation for funding.
    • The earliest the project can happen is 2011 and that is only if everything falls into place. Everyone would have to agree, funding would have to be found, and the design and right-of-way acquisition would have to be done in order to meet a 2011 construction year. Realistically it would probably happen after 2011.
    • The majority of the comments sent in with the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) had the same theme of concerns that the residents fear possible increased traffic through the neighborhood.
    • The DEIS is not updated unless the DOT goes to Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). Once it is determined what the final decision will be, then the document will be finished. Everyone's concerns will be placed in the document but not every written word from them. Comments are categorized. An example is that maybe out of 100 letters, 35 would have the same comment. If there are more than one comment per letter, all the comments are taken from the letter and placed into a category. Sometimes there may only be one comment per category but that is even placed in the document. The DOT would keep all the original comments on file. The new information or impacts would be included in the FEIS after the decisions are made. There will be a need for other public information meetings in the future for updates. Mr. Steiner does not know when that will be at this time (as of 6/13/2005).

 

  • September 2004 - Click on the link below for a .pdf version of the letter sent as formal public comment from the Board of the Greentree Neighborhood Association to the DOT re the DEIS

    Link to GTNA letter to the DOT (.pdf version)

  • September 2004 - Click on the link below for a .pdf version of the resolution re the DEIS adopted by the City of Madison Common Council. Items related to the Beltline Crossings are in the last section. This is the City's formal "Public Comment.".

    Link to Common Council Resolution (.pdf version)

  • September 2004 - Over 90 Greentree neighbors attended the informational meeting on 9/22/04 at Falk Elementary.

    • John Steiner, DOT District 1, and Tom Lynch from Strand & Associates (engineering consulting firm on the project) gave a slide presentation just for Greentree, answered questions, and listened to neighbor comments and concerns. There was no City traffic/planning dept. representative at the meeting, although they were invited. The correct person at the City to write to with concerns about this project is: David Trowbridge, City of Madison Dept. of Planning & Development, Room LL-100, Madison Municipal Building, Madison WI 53703.

  • September 2004 - Informational Meeting with DOT for the Greentree Neighborhood:

    Wednesday, September 22, 6:30 p.m.
    Falk Elementary School Gym
    6323 Woodington Way

    Download and/or view (.pdf): Invite letter from DOT

  • September 2004 - Letter from GTNA board to City Common Council members (delivered for deliberation at 9/7/04 common council meeting).

    Download or view (.pdf): 9/1/04 Letter to City Common Council

  • August 2004 - DEIS Public Comment Deadline Extended to September 30, 2004

    Public Comments were accepted prior to September 30, 2004, to be included/addressed in the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The DEIS is the DOT’s formal process of collecting and acknowledging public comment on proposed DOT projects.

    The DOT Contact is:

    Mr. John Steiner, Project Manager
    District #1 Office
    Wisconsin Department of Transportation
    2101 Wright Street
    Madison, WI 53704

  • An informational flyer WITH MAPS that was distributed to Greentree Neighbors prior to the 9/30/04 public comment deadline can be viewed at:

    Beltline Crossing Alt X4 Concerns (.pdf format)

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Last updated March 23, 2010

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