Milwaukee County Department of Transportation: Safe Streets Roadshow underway this summer

Contact:
Jeff Sponcia
414-257-5948
jeff.sponcia@milwaukeecountywi.gov
Milwaukee County Department of Transportation – Director’s Office
county.milwaukee.gov/CompleteCommunities

Resident Feedback on Multimodal Safety and Impact of Reckless Driving Needed at Public Meetings

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) launched a new safety initiative earlier this summer. The Complete Communities Transportation Planning Project is an effort to increase multimodal safety and address reckless driving across all 19 municipalities in Milwaukee County. Details about the project, including funding and project background, can be found on the project website: http://county.milwaukee.gov/CompleteCommunities.  

Milwaukee County’s vision to be the healthiest county in Wisconsin by achieving racial equity cannot be achieved without taking a new approach to transportation safety, addressing the root causes of reckless driving, and protecting our most vulnerable roadway users. The planning process and resulting plan will use an equity lens to center communities of color who often experience the greatest harm.  

As an opportunity to engage with and hear from residents, Milwaukee County is hosting a Safe Streets Roadshow throughout the summer with meetings in each of its 19 municipalities, including one Spanish-only session in the City of Milwaukee on August 24^th. Residents are invited to attend any meeting regardless of where they live within Milwaukee County. The meetings for the month of July are:

The Safe Streets Roadshow offers residents the opportunity to share their feedback on how they are impacted by reckless driving. Residents will also hear an overview of the project including goals and timeline. If residents are unable to attend a meeting and wish to contribute feedback, they can complete a digital survey. The survey can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/mcdotsurvey.

What Have We Heard? Milwaukee County hosted five Safe Streets Roadshow meetings in June and is hosting another 16 throughout July and August. At the meetings in June, 200 pieces of digital, written, and place-based feedback were gathered from participants. A few high-level takeaways include drivers feeling more anxious and a perception of speeding and distracted driving as leading factors in crashes. Participants suggested safe street solutions to slow traffic such as implementing protected bike lanes, lowering speed limits, and installing more speed bumps. An example of a resident’s feedback is:

“I wish drivers slowed down and looked out for pedestrians and bikers. Pedestrians and bikers also need to be careful and not just dart out into a car’s path. We all need to look out for one another.”  

Cudahy community member 

In addition to the Safe Streets Roadshow, this effort will be informed and guided by municipal partners throughout Milwaukee County through steering committees including a Public Advisory Committee  

(PAC) comprised of community leaders, advocates, and non-profits, and an interdisciplinary Safety Working Group (SWG) comprised of industry leaders and professionals. Both groups will convene at key moments throughout the process to inform the outcomes of the study. 

Learn more about Complete Communities and see a complete list of dates and locations for the Safe Streets Roadshow on the project website http://county.milwaukee.gov/CompleteCommunities.  

The project is expected to conclude in late 2024.  

Please reach out to Jeff Sponcia, Transportation Program Planning Manager at MCDOT (jeff.sponcia@milwaukeecountywi.gov), for any questions.