New Berlin Citizens for Responsible Government

Bulletin: Concrete pipe for Storm water problems Delivered yesterday to Calhoun Road at Lincoln Avenue!!!

Dear New Berlin citizens,

My wife and I own a condominium office and warehouse in the New Berlin Industrial Park. We live in Brookfield and I am also an alderman in the City of Brookfield. We have been against the widening of Calhoun Road in Brookfield since it has been proposed.

We feel Calhoun Road in New Berlin needs improvements in the following areas.

1. The road surface needs to be replaced.

2. The intersection northbound at Greenfield needs improvement. A bottleneck is caused by the design of the left turn median.

3. Turn lanes need to be added at right and left hand turns, at Lincoln Ave. and Ryerson for example.

4. The intersection at Cleveland and Calhoun should be improved in all directions. The current design causes backups.

The Brookfield project used a traffic study on Calhoun. Two of the specialists I contacted regarding traffic counts on this road say the study is flawed. If you would like to see information disclaiming these counts I can make it available to you. Calhoun Road is a city street not a state or county north/south highway. Traffic counts on Calhoun have been relatively flat in recent years. Counts have increased 1 to 3 percent each year and in fact went down a few percent in two of the years. Brookfield based the widening on traffic increasing 3% a year up to 28%. This is not a logical assumption. This street ends into a farmer’s field to the south and a Menomonee Falls subdivision to the north. I do not see a huge traffic producer that would result in this kind of traffic escalation.

New Berlin’s original widening project cites escalation in traffic as a result of a new interchange at Calhoun and I-94. My contacts with WisDOT say there are no plans to add this interchange. In order to add this it would take a lengthy environmental impact study and there are no guarantees that this would result in the decision to add an interchange. Everyone I contacted at the DOT said this would not happen for at least 10 years and probably much longer if at all. I would agree if there were an interchange added that it would result in higher traffic counts. Other factors such as escalating costs, budget shortfalls, wetlands present at this site, interchange neutral plans etc. all point to no interchange at Calhoun and I-94.

Another reason I am against this project is the use of eminent domain in order to acquire property from private citizens. Brookfield is negotiating with 77 property owners to acquire property for a 130 foot and 100 foot ROW. I do not think the gains to taxpayers justify the use of private property seizure in this case. Ask yourself. Are the benefits of a wider road worth it? Studies have proven a two lane road can handle increased traffic if augmented with turn lanes and intersection improvements.

The high cost to taxpayers on this project does not warrant the scope you are considering.

Jerry and Laurel Mellone

17949 West Lincoln Ave.

New Berlin, Wisconsin