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Hammersley/Whitney Way Intersection

Recommendations for reducing potential car crashes at the Whitney Way/Hammersley Road Intersection were posted at the City of Madison's Traffice Engineering web site:

Hammersley/Whitney Way Forum

At this site there is also an on-line comment form. Traffic Engineers are seeking neighborhood comments on the proposals, in advance of a public hearing that will be scheduled this winter. The primary recommendation is installing a "directional median crossing" that would prevent direct traffic crossing across Hammersley Road and would divert traffic for a block to prevent the turns deemed most dangerous.

Impact and Possible plans for a Beltline Crossing at Watts Rd/Forward Drive

To reduce congestion at the Beltline (Hwy 12/14) Interchanges at Whitney Way and Gammon Road, the Wisconsin State Department of Transportation (DOT) and City of Madison are proposing a NEW road for this area to cross the Beltline. This road will NOT connect with the beltline; just cross it. See detailed information and maps below.

This proposal is a part of the larger Verona Rd./West Beltline project. Information about this project is available at:

http://www.dot.state.wi.us/projects/d1/verona/index.htm

Updates/Summary of Neighborhood Action:

• Febrary 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

Link to Letter sent from GTNA to DOT formalizing neighborhood concerns

• May - June 2007 Updates

A series of questions and answers about the status of the project between GTNA and Larry Barta.

Link to Q&A document

A informational fact sheet provided by the DOT

Link to November 2006 fact sheet

• 3/20/2007 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.

• 3/7/2006 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.

• 6/13/05 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).

• 9/30/04 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)

• 9/27/04 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)

• 9/24/04: 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.


• 9/2/04: 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

• 9/1/04: 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

• 8/11/04: DEIS Public Comment Deadline Extended to September 30!

  Public Comments were accepted prior to September 30, 2004, to be included/addressed in the project’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS 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)

Background:

To reduce congestion at the Beltline (Hwy 12/14) Interchanges at Whitney Way and Gammon Road, the Wisconsin State Department of Transportation (DOT) and City of Madison are proposing a NEW road for this area to cross the Beltline. This road will NOT connect with the beltline; just cross it.

There are four proposed crossing alternatives. Alternative “X4:East Watts Extension” would connect Watts Road and Forward Drive south of the Beltline, with Odana Road and University Research Park Drive north of the Beltline. This alternative is the current DOT and City favorite.

Although this is not addressed in the DEIS, according to information provided orally at a meeting with Strand representatives and Greentree neighbors over a year ago, Forward Drive would be re-routed to align exactly with Hathaway Dr. as a matter of safety. (This statement has been changed as a result of comments made by Tom Lynch at the 9/22/04 informational meeting.)

ISSUES:

Some Greentree neighbors are concerned that traffic through our neighborhood will increase, particularly on:

Chapel Hill Rd
Frisch Rd
Woodington Way
Hathaway Rd

Traffic could increase substantially as commuters south of our neighborhood find “shortcuts” through Greentree to use the new crossing (see map below).

Of particular concern is morning rush hour traffic coinciding with Falk Elementary school’s start time. Falk is located on Woodington Way, and begins school at 7:45 a.m. Increased traffic on this narrow neighborhood street, while many children, parents, buses and cars are present, could cause major pedestrian safety issues.

More information about this proposal, which is a part of the larger Verona Rd./West Beltline project,
is available at Madison Public Libraries, and also at:

http://www.dot.state.wi.us/projects/d1/verona/index.htm

Last Updated February 17, 2008 - Webmaster: stump@gtna.org