MILWAUKEE — Progress is being made on what some consider a dangerous stretch of road on the east side of Milwaukee.
A woman crossing Prospect Avenue at Brady Street was killed in September. It sparked one of her neighbors to reach out to TMJ4’s Project Drive Safer about the dangers on the street. Now, the Department of Public Works (DPW) says it is planning some safety upgrades.
"We are being listened to. We are being heard,” said Bill Lau, who is calling for changes on Prospect Avenue.
Lau first sent an email TMJ4's Project Drive Safer last fall after a deadly crash on Prospect Avenue with one of his neighbors. Edith Hibbard, who was also a resident at Saint John’s on the Lake with Lau, was hit and killed while crossing the street in a crosswalk with a walk sign. He shared with us a petition his fellow residents sent to the city asking for changes along the street to make it safer.
DPW is addressing some of those concerns and says it will make safety upgrades.
“That was a great step,” said Lau.
"I think it is progress. I think it is progress,” said east side Alderman Bob Bauman whose district includes part of Prospect Avenue.
In a letter, DPW says it will do the following to further improve pedestrian safety:
-Adjust the timing of traffic signals at the intersection of East Brady St. and N Prospect Ave.
-Increase the duration of the all-red intervals to minimize conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians
-Upgrade the traffic signals to feature larger displays through N Prospect and N Farewell
-Install a "Left Turn Yield to Pedestrians" sign
But Bauman says there needs to be physical changes to the road like speed humps or bollards.
"The kind of physical changes, which are expensive, which have downsides, which aren't appreciated by everybody, but those kinds of physical changes force people to conform to the rules of the road or something bad will happen to their car,” said Bauman.
Bill agrees and has created a committee with other residents at Saint John's called the Project Drive Safer Committee to continue to ask the city for more changes.
"Again, that is simply another step. There is the battle and the war. So these are small steps that we take to hopefully come to a point where we can calm the traffic. Calm the traffic will hopefully protect the safety of pedestrians,” said Lau.
DPW says the changes have not been made yet, but hopes to get those safety upgrades done by the end of the week.
Alderman Bauman says there is a public meeting with DPW about safety on Prospect Ave. on Feb. 27 at 5:30 p.m. at Saint John's on the Lake in their auditorium.
