DOT Pitching 8 Highway 38 Route Alternatives
While officials with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation presented their rationale for ditching 26 alternative routes for Highway 38. One village trustee wonders why the road just can't be fixed.
Plans to reroute Highway 38 won’t likely take place for a number of years, but the question of what path the state highway will follow is a major sticking point.
Representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation originally had 34 alternative routes for Highway 38, but that number has dwindled to eight. Tthey outlined those plans at a Village Board meeting Tuesday.
Brian Wilson, an engineer with the DOT, explained that those eight alternative routes have been grouped into subcategories, which include following along Highway H, the existing Highway 38 corridor and the Canadian Pacific Railway railroad line. A fourth alternative subgroup was also designated, but was tossed out because it didn’t meet the DOT’s requirements.
With that said, village trustee Lee Wishau said he didn’t understand the need to reroute the road at all because the road could just be fixed.
“I know you said there are safety issues, but part of the issue is that the speed is too high,” Wishau said.
The DOT’s proposed route alternatives for Highway 38 from Oakwood Road to Highway K are needed because of the high number of car crashes along those roads.
The intersections at Highway 38 and 4 Mile Road, 5 Mile Road, and County H/6 Mile Road have been identified as having crash rates higher than 1.5 times the state average, according the DOT’s Wisconsin Corridor Re-Evaluation document.
- County K to 6 Mile Road has a crash rate of 2.6 times the statewide average,
- Along 6 Mile Road to Oakwood Road the crash rate is 1.3 times the statewide average.
“Typically, when an intersection crash rate approaches a value of 1 there is a concern, and when they exceed a value of 1.5, improvements should be pursued,” according to the document.
No decisions have been made as to with which alternative the DOT will move forward.
To view the alternatives, concerned citizens are invited to a project information meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at Gifford Elementary, 8332 Northwestern Ave.
To see a map of the alternatives, check out the newsletter_v2 file in the .pdf section under the photo gallery.
dsaff
6:27 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012
If we had laws that mandate no driving while on cell phones we may not see these numerous accidents on Hy.38 and intersections.
Jameson Sinclair
8:02 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012
The sipped limit on hwy 38 should be 45.
Carol
9:23 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012
If you go back about 20-25 years, the speed limit was lowered to 45. The police dept. at that time couldn't keep up with all the speeders and someone at the top of the DOT at that time said anytime there are that many people violating a law, it must be a bad law.... and the speed limit was raised back to 55
Thin Blue Line
10:19 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012
Many of the accidents, including fatal ones at the intersections of 4 or 5 Mile and Sth 38 / Nicholson Road / Cth H occur with drivers stopping at the stop sign and then pulling into the path of the north or southbound vehicle that has the right of way. A speed limit change might help however the enforcement would be needed to ensure compliance and Caledonia has shown in the last budget that there is no room for additional police to bring the force back to the size it was 6 years ago.
Shane Kapugia
8:42 am on Friday, March 29, 2013
Need better visibility at intersections. If you are stopped trying to cross 38 at some of those crossing roads, it can be difficult to see the traffic on 38. I myself almost had a motorcyclist pull out in front of me while I was traveling north on 38, the motorcyclist was on 4 mile rd. He did pull out but stopped when he finally saw me. Putting stop signs up at every road crossing is not the answer, but maybe stop lights to allow east and west bound traffic to cross safely.