Transporation officials will weave another design for busy 'braid'

Hales Corners - State transportation officials will develop yet another plan to increase traffic flow and safety at Forest Home Avenue and Janesville Road.

Village trustees asked the Department of Transportation to provide an alternative to five plans presented to the board Monday night for those roads, which form a "braid" near Highway 100.

The new plan would include a roundabout east of Highway 100 but would exclude a traffic signal at Market Drive. It would also restrict left turns out of the Village Market parking lot.

"I like the clarity and smoothness you get out of the roundabout," said Trustee Joseph Mesec. "I think we can get by without any signals at all."

That was the original DOT proposal, but trustees concerned about safety at the braid asked for alternatives that included a signal, either at Village Market's driveway (where traffic volume is the highest), South Lilac Lane or West Scharles Avenue.

Hales Corners police have indicated there had been 15 accidents at or near the braid, where Janesville and Forest Home form a weave, since 2003. Stacie Pierce, a traffic safety engineer for the DOT, said the area typically has one or two accidents in most years, but that number spiked unexpectedly to eight in 2010.

Vida Shaffer, DOT project manager, said the number of crashes may not be significant enough to warrant a traffic signal at any of the intersections. "When we did look at the crashes, we didn't see a problem," she said.

Pierce added that traffic volume on Lilac and Scharles didn't justify a signal. The average daily traffic count in a 24-hour period on Forest Home, with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour, is 15,000 vehicles, she said.

Also, she said, the Village Market driveway is private property, and the DOT shies away from installing signals on land that serves a single developer rather than the greater public.

But further discussion led to another reason a signal was given a second thought: "A roundabout deals with random traffic," said Brian Bliesner, operating chief of the DOT's southeast region. "A signal stops traffic."

Trustee Mary Bennett and President Robert Ruesch both noted that signals or a too restrictive traffic pattern could have unintended and adverse economic consequences.

"Let's make the traffic move faster, safely and make it easy for people to come here and shop," said Trustee Mary Bennett.

Said Ruesch: "We as a board need to get more business here, not frustrate their customer base."

The DOT is expected to develop a revised plan for trustees' review at its Feb. 7 Committee of the Whole meeting. After that, a public hearing will be scheduled, probably in mid- to late summer, Shaffer said.

If approved, the roundabout project would be done in conjunction with the DOT's plan to widen Highway 100 at that intersection.

The widening and the roundabout, contingent on funding, would not begin until 2020 and take two full construction seasons to complete. The cost of the project, which would widen Highway 100 from Layton Avenue to Puetz Road, has not been determined.

"You have an opportunity right now to make some good changes," said Shaffer. "I want you to keep that in mind when you consider these alternatives."