'Complete chaos': Milwaukee alderman pushes for state to delay 27th St. viaduct closure
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- If road construction in Milwaukee is affecting your commute, a Milwaukee alderman has a warning.
"We're about to see a dramatic adverse impact from the closing of a major arterial street in Milwaukee," Ald. Robert Bauman said.
He's talking about the state's plans to shut down the 27th St. viaduct over the Menomonee Valley through December.
Bauman described WisDOT's plans as, "Like bulls in a China shop."
Widening the highway means rebuilding bridges.
Bauman points out that the 16th St. viaduct is already closed due to emergency construction.
"That, to me, is the insane part," Bauman added, "When you have two major bridges crossing the Menomonee Valley and you're shutting them both down."
That eliminates two of four options for crossing the highway and the Menomonee Valley.
Twenty-two thousand cars cross the 27th St. bridge every day. And for the next year, they'll have to go elsewhere.
So anyone who wants to drive straight across the valley can't do it between 6th and 35th streets -- a distance of about two miles.
With major north-south access points closed off, it limits where people can cross the highway. And that means east-west arteries like St. Paul could see a major increase in traffic. And there is a concern they may not be able to handle what's to come.
"That'll put a tremendous amount of traffic through neighborhoods, residential neighborhoods, through side streets," Ald. Bauman said. "An immense amount of left-turn movements, right-turn movements, and it'll become complete chaos. It could add half-hour, 40 minutes to a typical trip crossing the Menomonee Valley."
Ald. Bauman wants the state to delay the 27th St. shutdown, and he's asking Milwaukeeans to write to the governor since this is a state project.
The closure is currently scheduled to begin Feb. 2.
We've reached out to the Department of Transportation for a response to the alderman's complaint, but we have not yet heard back.