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City of Madison Report (PDF, 512 KB) On Old Middleton Road Traffic and Street Reconstruction (Capital Ave. west to Stonefield Rd/St. Dunstan Dr.) March 22, 2000 Review of actions done to date, latest city action
This is a very detailed report (including traffic data, street diagrams, and photos) about Old Middleton Road between Capital Avenue and St. Dunstan's Drive. It explains some basic traffic engineering principles. |
MINUTES
Tuesday, November 25, 1997
5:00 p.m. - Regular Meeting
Conference Room 260, Madison Municipal Building
215 Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard
8. Old Middleton Road Neighborhood Study
McCormick reported on the status to date as it related to neighborhood concerns resulting from a neighborhood traffic management project for Old Middleton Road from Capital Avenue to the west (or to City of Middleton). The last of four neighborhood meetings had been held in March 1997. A range of alternatives from traffic control to traffic calming improvements to systemwide changes with advantages and disadvantages were reviewed and discussed. The Old Middleton neighborhood was concerned about protecting the residential character of the neighborhood; and yet wanted to be responsive by not shifting the problems to other streets/neighborhoods. There were no simple solutions since there were limits to what traffic control changes could do. They thought there might be a solution with St. Dunstan Drive to help address the issues and objectives and still maintain the character of the rural roadway of Old Middleton Road. The City, working with RPC, modeled some proposals as a follow-up and they would be meeting with the neighborhood on December 8 to present this material. Additionally, it would be shared with other groups since changes would affect more than the immediate Old Middleton neighborhood; that is, a regional area, including City of Middleton. Stop signs had been installed at Capital and Old Middleton and staff and the neighborhood were considering additional measures with regard to the St. Dunstan's issue. He emphasized they were not trying to "hide" anything from the neighborhoods/interest groups, but to continue the work they had begun with the Old Middleton neighborhood in looking at the different range of alternatives.
He described the St. Dunstan issues, pointing out that it was a local connection parallel to Capital Avenue to the east and located between Old Middleton Road and University Avenue in the vicinity of Allen Boulevard to the north. Due to a series of decisions made in the 70's, plans for a north-south arterial street system (CTH Q extension) which had been mapped were circumvented through political actions, development and changes to the roadway system. As the plats and subdivisions developed, for example, in the area of Stonefield Road, the connector issues resurfaced, but resolutions were passed to reaffirm the past decisions to not move forward on the St. Dunstan connection. In the mid-80's, the City of Middleton's master plan showed St. Dunstan as a collector road to service Middleton's needs since it is on the edge of the City of Middleton. This plan was met with some controversy primarily from the single family residents in Stonefield. Because of past actions, the Q extension was no longer a viable option. But, with Old Middleton Road, they were looking at a system change to address some of the Old Middleton traffic issues; e.g., commuter traffic.
Holtzman said a relatively short section of Old Middleton Road (west of Capital Avenue) was an unimproved section of roadway in disrepair and needing attention soon. The area east of Capital Avenue was scheduled for resurfacing in 1998. Old Middleton Road was on the TIP a few years back and was envisioned as a widening and street improvement project. The neighborhood lots on Old Middleton Road were quite wide (250 ft.) and special assessments to improve the road to what was initially envisioned as a 40 ft. road with pedestrian and bicycle accommodations could easily run a property owner a five figure amount. The neighborhood was sensitive to losing some oak trees and were looking for alternatives to widening the street, since widening would facilitate commuter travel, yet the cost would be borne by the property owner. Since August 1995, he had been approached by residents expressing concerns about their children walking down Capital Avenue to the school bus. Traffic Engineering had been very responsive in clearing brush to provide better visibility, providing the traffic control at the intersection, and painting of the double yellow center line. Speed studies show the 85th percentile speed to be over 40 mph and it was not uncommon to see speeds over 50. Holtzman had received a newsletter from Middleton which indicated that Elmwood (continuation of Old Middleton into Middleton's city limits) would be widened to 40 ft. which would only enhance this as a parallel route to University Avenue. He reported there was a vocal group in Middleton seeking the widening into Madison vs. looking at the alternatives being studied. He emphasized that he saw the issue "heating up" and wanted to apprise the PBMVC of its status.
Shahan asked if one of the alternatives was to resurface the road and leave it at two lanes. McCormick said this was done 10-15 years ago, but because of the roadway base conditions, a full reconstruction project was required since it would not be worth the City's investment to merely resurface it. Shahan asked if there would be an alternative to simply reconstruct a two-lane facility. McCormick said staff was not suggesting the road be widened; it was now two lanes with shoulder and the proposal had been to provide for two-lanes with curb and gutter, bike lanes and pedestrian facilities. The neighborhood did not support curb and gutter since they wanted to maintain the rural character and they did not necessarily support a pedestrian walkway. However, with 5000+ vehicles per day and the need to accommodate pedestrians, staff would not be comfortable with a proposal to have pedestrians walking in the street.
Shahan asked about the St. Dunstan alternatives; wouldn't they just take traffic off one area and put it someplace else? McCormick said the concept of the St. Dunstan alternative was to direct traffic to the more appropriate street (University Avenue). For example, motorists from the Stonefield area and western Middleton could be routed more directly to University Avenue vs. using Old Middleton Road as a parallel route. Old Middleton Road is designated as a collector. If a St. Dunstan alternative were available, they might be able to replace the collector service of Old Middleton to possibly more of a local residential street. In turn, Old Middleton Road would not need the types of improvements called for a collector facility. If so, pedestrians might be able to be accommodated without a separate facility because of the lesser volumes, etc. The advantages and disadvantages of St. Dunstan alternatives hadn't yet been fully discussed. He reiterated the neighborhood wanted to be responsible and not be parochial. They would not want to just close Old Middleton Road since it would not be in the interests of the transportation network. St. Dunstan alternatives were for primarily a two-lane roadway, one-way in each direction and at the intersection at University, there might be a two-lane approach. The proposal was not for a major roadway.
Hill asked if they had explored an off-road pedestrian facility which would be more like a nature path, such as might be used in an E-way. Dryer responded they had looked at an asphalt path as a minimum; there was still the issue of snow removal and responsibility for same. Holtzman indicated Nelson had suggested something similar to this along St. Dunstan.
McCormick emphasized that the neighborhood and City were working together to try to come up with solutions to address the problems with a range of alternatives from traffic controls to no improvements to traffic calming to system improvements. They were still working with the neighborhood on this and were looking for support from them on a way to move forward.
Kaysen asked if the City could explore the City assuming more of the costs of initial construction of curb, gutter and sidewalk so that pedestrians facilities were a part of the project. She asked if there was a model of having the costs over and above reconstructing what exists being borne by the City. If the assessments were lessened, she wondered if there would be less opposition to providing sidewalks. McCormick said he couldn't address the question directly, but he pointed out the City's project was only for two lanes, not the four lanes being constructed in Middleton. He wasn't sure what the assessment policy for this case was but thought there was a substantial difference from a normal assessment (e.g., normally in the neighborhood of $70-80 per foot vs. $30 per foot proposed for this improvement). The issues related to the pedestrian facility were not only the cost, but also its maintenance, change to the character of the area, etc.
Kennedy expressed a desire for the City to continue to find a way to provide a pedestrian path. Also, he asked about the coordination between the City of Middleton and Madison. Would Middleton's position to improve Elmwood to 40 ft. force the issue? McCormick said the City had been proactive and had had meetings with Middleton. Holtzman had been talking with their Alderperson; staff had spoken with their public works people. Madison had encouraged them to communicate with the City and this may not have always happened. Middleton knew about the Madison's activities, but were not noticed about the subsequent action on Elmwood. The traffic modeling for St. Dunstan was done by RPC at Madison's request and the information was shared with Middleton. Madison staff was basically still working at the neighborhood level and had nothing concrete to bring to Middleton at this stage. McCormick said in terms of Elmwood, it wouldn't mean that the City had to provide the same cross section. Holtzman added that part of the problem was there was both the practical public works view and the political view. In the public works view, there was a constricted traffic flow in Middleton where one travels from Q to Branch to Park, and capacity had apparently been reached based on RPC studies. Ald. Brunette of the Board of Public Works was suggesting that it might be equitable to spread the traffic load and saw some wisdom in having a more insular situation in Stonefield with everything else using Park Street. From the political perspective, the Ald. representing Stonefield was very aggressive in forwarding their concerns and there had been some fairly inflammatory statements coming from the Stonefield area. While Madison had been proactive in inviting Middleton to meetings, there was kind of an independent track in Middleton opposing the St. Dunstan alternatives before there was even a plan before anyone. He felt cooperation could be better.
McCormick said they would report back on the outcome of the alternatives being discussed.
Holtzman commended staff for the work they had done on this issue and their dealings with the neighborhood.