MILWAUKEE — Work to make Brady Street safer is underway thanks to a collaboration between the Department of Public Works and the Brady Street Business Improvement District.
The changes you'll see on Brady Street are focused on the intersections with Franklin and Arlington. Arlington is where a serious hit-and-run happened on Memorial Day weekend.
"The BID came forward and the alderman for the district came forward and said 'What can we do?' They were willing to put resources on the table," explained Kevin Muhs, City Engineer. "That helps change the conversation when we're talking about being able to do something quickly."
When the work is complete, there will be high-visibility crosswalks — and with the help of concrete planters — there will be a median created in the middle of the Arlington intersection.
"It shrinks the space available to cars a little bit so that people slow down as they're going thru the intersection and recognize we're trying to prioritize crossing here," underlined Muhs, "Crossing safely."
The Brady Street Bid contributed money to this project, and they will own and maintain the planters.
And the goal is to keep the changes coming. Alderman Jonathan Brostoff is helping lead a discussion about apotential re-design of Brady Street.
"The larger discussion is still in the works," he said. "We still have to identify a funding source and there's some other aspects to it."
There are four design options being considered. Options 1 and 2 would keep Brady Street open to all forms of traffic and add calming measures like speed tables and curb extensions.
Options 3 and 4 would make a few blocks of Brady Street pedestrian-only.
"We've gotten a lot of good feedback," added Brostoff. "And so far when we've presented the plan — the vast majority of feedback we've gotten is for option number 4."
Muhs says DPW is open to conversations with other business improvement districts that might also be interested in contributing money to help fund new traffic calming projects.
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