The Department of Transportation began its improvements to traffic flow on Bluemound Road in early June.  The work will be done in three one-mile segments and each segment will take about a month to complete.

The first phase is between Moorland and Calhoun Roads.  Over the summer, work will progress westward (in one-mile increments) to Barker Road.

Since early June, the following work has been accomplished between Moorland and Calhoun Roads.  Temporary utility poles were installed and stop lights strung across the intersections. Orange barrels have been distributed along the roadway.  Barricades have been erected at many medians. The white diagonal lines that designated bus and right turns have been painted over.  Drivers may now drive in the right lane.  That is good, because drivers can no longer use the left lane.

As we enter week two:  Concrete medians are being removed.  Any trees and/or shrubs in the medians are being bulldozed.  Alas, I believe the trees and shrubs being sacrificed were once part of "streetscaping"  partially funded by taxpayers. Perhaps a reader can clarify.

Because there is construction on Calhoun Road and on Bluemound Road delays are compounded.  The difficulty entering/exiting V Richards Plaza is no doubt adversely impacting the businesses located there.

Perhaps the construction is really part of traffic calming for the 70,000 cars that travel east/west along Bluemound Road each day. 

(1)  My writing (and believing) that 124^th Street south of Greenfield was in Brookfield.  (Dec 12, 2006)

(2) A statement that the Town of Brookfield won't use TIF (Tax Incremental Financing) to redevelop property along Bluemound Road  (Aug 13, 2007)

(3) My belief that Greenfield Road has better traffic flow than Bluemound Road (Sep 28, 2007)

He was right on the first one. I will never forget that 124th Street south of Greenfield is in New Berlin. In fact, I acknowledged that Dec 31, 2006.  But I do maintain that a [non-environmental] TIF won't be used in the town, and that the traffic flow on Greenfield is better than that on Bluemound.

Here's why:

Legally, the town form of government cannot use a TIF.  But evidently there is an exception for lands needing environmental cleanup.  A state TIF was used (by the Town) in clean up of the Majestic theatre site.

In my opinion, Greenfield Road does has better traffic flow than Bluemound Brookfield Road (corrected 11/2/07).  While I normally head east on Greenfield Road to 124^th, I have taken Greenfield Road west to Waukesha.  Admittedly, the road does narrow west of Bluemound Road. (That’s because the Town of Brookfield chose not to fund the road widening at the level the state demanded.)  From my perspective, the alternate design the state created does not impede traffic flow.

I do live in the Town of Brookfield.  I enjoy the lower tax rates, town water, and sanitary sewer rates that are lower that the city’s.  Emergency response times have been good, and I am confident in the first responders’ skills.  As the word ‘town’ implies, it has smaller government which I feel tends to be more responsive than larger entities.

Nonetheless, I’m sorry I inconvenienced those who pointed out my errors. So please let me know about future misstatements by using the "commenting tool' on this blog.