If you live in the southwestern part of Milwaukee County or the southeastern part of Waukesha County and plan to go to Mayfair Mall, or Miller Park, or State Fair Park or the Milwaukee Medical Complex - or pretty much anywhere north of I-94 - for the next two months, I've got two words for you. Good Luck!
In a stunningly sudden move last Friday afternoon, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced that it was closing the bridge carrying northbound traffic on U.S. 45 over I-94 at the Zoo Interchange. As a result, if you are heading north on U.S. 45, you will be required to take the Doyle Detour and head eastbound on I-94 (merging in the process with all the usual eastbound traffic). You will then be directed off the freeway at the Barrett Bypass (aka 84th Street) where you will be redirected back on to the freeway heading westbound (merging in the process with all the usual westbound traffic). If you can somehow navigate this route without being involved in a collision, you will then be able to rejoin U.S. 45 and continue heading north.
By the way, if you normally use 84th Street to travel either north or south under the freeway, forget it - you can't.
I drove this route Saturday at noon and found it to be, frankly, a mess. The worst part seemed to be rejoining I-94 westbound at the Barrett Bypass on 84th Street since diverted traffic was competing with all the usual traffic trying to get into the right lane to head north on U.S. 45. If it was a nightmare at noon on Saturday, I can only imagine what it will be like on weekdays.
I understand that the DOT had no choice but to close the U.S. 45 bridge. Apparently, the deterioration was so great that the bridge was no longer safe. The outrage though is that the situation was ever allowed to reach this point in the first place!
State Senator Ted Kanavas nailed this last November.
In 2005, Jim Doyle vetoed a $38 million appropriation which would have gotten needed work on the Zoo Interchange underway. The veto,designed to appease a small but politically well-connected bunch of anti-freeway activists, was more about politics than practicalities. Stalling work on the Zoo Interchange was supported by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who predicted that " ... the Zoo Interchange will stand long enough for us to resolve these issues." Missed that call, Tom!
The truth is that work on the Zoo Interchange should have been started a long time ago - not delayed until 2012 at the earliest. As a result, we're now faced with an emergency situation which will significantly inconvenience motorists and substantially damage commerce. This problem was as predictable as it was inevitable - and now we're paying the price for the short-sightedness of our elected officials.
By the way, these are the same officials who are in such a hurry to start spending $820 million that the Federal government doesn't have to build a not-so-high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and the outskirts of Madison. In other words, the same folks who gave you "The Doyle Detour" and "The Barrett Bypass" want to give you "The Train That Nobody Will Ride".
Think about this when you're stuck in traffic over the next couple of months!
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