Waukesha Leaders Seek Input on New Downtown Project

A construction project is scheduled for Downtown Waukesha and now city officials want to hear from you.

The plan is to reconstruct North Grand Avenue from Wisconsin Avenue to West Main Street and South Street from Clinton to North Grand.

Construction is scheduled to begin in March and will be closed to through traffic. How long the project will last is still unknown.

The reconstruction includes a numbers of things like installation of a new water main, relaying and lining of the sanity sewer main, storm sewer rehabilitation, sidewalk repairs and replacement.

Business owners along North Grand say they’re not surprised to hear another project will soon be underway in the area. However, they say they are concerned about how they’re going to keep their doors open when construction will be happening right outside their doors, keeping customers from parking and potentially even entering.

“They said they’re going to be doing this in March but they didn’t give us an end date. So, I don’t know what to tell my customers,” says Stephanie Olson, owner of Alterations Unlimited. “I don’t know where to tell them to park. I don’t know where I’m going to park since I live here too.”

For more than 20 years Olson’s business has been a part of North Grand Avenue.

Representatives want to work with businesses and residents to help make this project a little less of a headache. That’s why city leaders are allowing people to weigh in on the project during public meetings.

“There is never a good time for construction but that’s why these informational meetings are important,” says Erik Helgestad, Waukesha  Alderman Distict 11. “We get folks contact information; we make sure emails go out regularly as the project progresses. We try to be as proactive and communicative as possible.”

The meeting is scheduled for 5p.m. at City Hall Tuesday( January 10).