Planners agree Waukesha bypass could start as 2 lanes

Public hearing on matter set for September

March 10, 2011

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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

March 10, 2011 0

Waukesha - Waukesha County transportation planners said that a four-lane bypass between I-94 and Highway 59 on Waukesha's west side is needed and should be planned.

But bending to public pressure, the planners also said that for nearly two-thirds of the 5-mile project, two lanes could be built initially and two more phased in later, with no timetable given.

That recommendation, along with two remaining alternative routes that will get detailed environmental study, were laid out Thursday to the County Board's Public Works Committee.

In an interview, Public Works Director Allison Bussler said the project team's first choice was not to phase in four lanes because of the challenges it presents, including a lack of continuity and additional costs.

"I believe the data will show that doing it all at once makes the most sense," she said. However, "we are trying to be responsive to the public," and a significant number have opposed a four-lane bypass, she said.

The study team has eliminated the last remaining route that would have skirted Merrill Hills Country Club and the Merrill Hills subdivision. Earlier, routes further east and west - along Highway T or starting at the Highway SS interchange - were also eliminated.

Current estimates put the project cost between $46 million to $48 million for four lanes or $29 million to $32 million for two lanes. In every scenario, the northern bypass segment between I-94 and Highway 18 (Summit Ave.) would be four lanes, with that segment's construction proposed for 2013.

An environmental impact study will now be done on a route that largely follows Highway TT (Meadowbrook and Merrill Hills roads) until the southerly tip, where two routes will get detailed study. Those include a new segment west of Pebble Creek, and one that would jog east along Sunset Drive and Highway X to Highway 59.

Three different Pebble Creek options were studied because of the area's sensitive environment. The final choice would take from nine to 12 acres of wetland and environmental corridor and up to two relocations of property owners. The other Pebble Creek alternatives would have taken more wetlands and properties.

Public Works Chairman David Swan was dissatisfied with the possibility of phasing in four lanes rather than building the complete project immediately.

"If we're going to do it, we should do it," he said.

County engineers and consultants, with input from a community advisory committee and from public information meetings, have spent the past year narrowing multiple alternatives.

A draft environmental impact statement will be prepared and a public hearing will probably be held in September, Bussler said.

About Laurel Walker

Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.