At this week’s Public Works Committee meeting, engineers from Strand Associates walked the committee through concept alternatives for a safety overhaul of the Hampton Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard intersection. The project is to be funded through the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), which picks up 90% of the cost, with the Village covering the remaining 7.5% and the City of Milwaukee footing the remaining 2.5% (the SW corner is City land). The project is estimated to cost $1.5 million, meaning the village would cover $116,000. No formal action was taken as this was a workshop session ahead of a final recommendation expected at a Village Board meeting in the coming weeks.
Why this intersection
The numbers tell the story: 19 crashes over the 2019 to 2023 period reviewed for the grant application. The dominant patterns were angle crashes: four left-turn angle crashes (including one high-severity crash involving a pedestrian, who attended a recent public meeting and described her multi-year recovery), five right-angle crashes, and four vehicles hitting signal poles. The Village median signs have been struck twice in the period as well.
The engineering culprits, per Strand:
- A “negative offset” on the north-south left turns. When cars are queued in the opposing left-turn lane, drivers can’t see oncoming through traffic, especially around taller SUVs and trucks.
- Poor signal visibility.
- Non-compliant pedestrian facilities. All four corners have outdated curb ramps with no detectable warning fields and no pedestrian push buttons.
- Inconsistent bike markings (only the south leg has them) and a cluster of driveways near the intersection, particularly at the gas station.
Anyone who’s crossed there with a stroller on the way to the Oak Leaf Trail or the shops nearby already knew this intersection punches above its weight in stress. Between the apartments, CVS, gas stations, county bus route 14, and heavy Oak Leaf Trail foot and bike traffic, the intersection is a busy thoroughfare of multimodal traffic.
The options on the table
Strand presented three concepts:
Alternative A keeps the existing footprint and focuses on the signals: new overhead signals with lane-designated heads and reflective backplates (like Silver Spring’s), upgraded vehicle detection, emergency vehicle preemption, pedestrian push buttons and countdown timers, new curb ramps, bike lanes through the intersection, high-visibility crosswalks, and intersection lighting. The biggest functional change: northbound and southbound left turns become protected-only, meaning you’d turn left on a green arrow or not at all.
Alternative B is everything in A, plus a longer northbound left-turn lane on the south leg to handle the queues that protected-only turns will create. The tradeoff: it removes on-street parking along the curve in front of the funeral home, about five spaces beyond what A would already claim.
A roundabout was studied at the public’s request and is likely dead. A single-lane roundabout sized for trucks that use these routes would have required taking property in all four quadrants, including two of the gas station’s pumps (which could effectively force a full property acquisition), plus impacts to the new apartment building area, CVS parking, and the southwest corner.
What’s not getting fixed (yet)
The most common public comment was about something outside this project entirely: the Oak Leaf Trail crossing on Hampton just west of the intersection, where near misses aren’t completely uncommon as drivers are often confused whether to stop or not for trail users. One such accident occurred this week, as noted by WFB resident Ben Handelman on social media. That stretch sits in the City of Milwaukee, not the Village. The encouraging news: Milwaukee is spending its own money on conceptual work with the same engineering firm so a future trail-crossing project can dovetail with this one. No commitments yet on exactly what that might mean, but there is collaboration occurring, which may spark improvements nearby in the future.
Timeline
Design work continues through the end of this year with final plans coming in 2027, and construction in 2028. The Village Board is expected to take up a final recommendation (it appeared that could be Alternative B in some refined form), at an upcoming meeting. If you have opinions about the parking, the bike lanes, or the protected turns, it’s now or never.
Also this week: final vote on the Lydell & Silver Spring development
One more item for your radar: the redevelopment at Lydell and Silver Spring reaches its final major approval step tonight. The Community Development Authority meets tonight at 6:00pm to take action on the architectural and site plans for the mixed-use building replacing the Bay Manor Apartments at 131 W. Silver Spring Drive.
The proposal includes a three-story mixed use building with a Bank of America and one additional commercial space (no word on potential tenants at this point) on the ground floor, plus 16 apartments on the second and third floors, 40 parking stalls across a ground level and an underground lot, and a rooftop terrace. The Architectural Review Commission signed off in June and recommended approval, and because the property sits in the Silver Spring Drive Business District, the CDA gets an additional look at the development. Village staff is recommending approval subject to a list of conditions — mostly follow-up submittals still owed on lighting, rooftop mechanical screening, fencing, and signage.
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