[Reprinted from Wisconsin State Journal , Nov. 19, 2000 ]
By Valeria Davis-Humphrey
Suburban reporter
A public information meeting on the planned reconstruc tion of McKee Road/Highway PD from Nesbitt Road to Highway M will allow area residents to review preliminary plans, ask juestions and share con cerns.
Engineers representing Dane County and the state Department of Transportation along with Madison and Fitchburg officials will be at Huegel Elementary, 2601 Prairie Road from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 27 for the informal meeting, with a brief presentation at 6:30 p.m.
The proposed project will widen McKee Road from a two-lane highway to a four lane divided street with curbs and a raised median from South High Point Road east to Nesbitt Road. West from Highpoint Road, the existing two lane highway will be rebuilt with new pavement and wider shoulders.
Early estimates of the project's cost is around $7.7 million, which will be 80 percent federally funded. The remaining 20 percent local portion of the cost will be shared by the county, Fitchburg and Madison.
Growth on Madison's far West Side is driving the needed road improvements, said Tony Fernandez, one of the Madison engineers on the project. About 15,000 vehicles per day currently pass through the inter section of McKee Road at Nesbitt Road, he said. By 2022, that number is projected to rise to 25,000 per day.
"There's a lot of development in the area, residential and commercial," Femandez said, adding that user input is important to the final design.
"We're at an early point in the design project. We have a basic concept plan, but the purpose of the public meeting is to get input from the users," he said.
During reconstruction, portions of the road will need to be completely closed, Fernandez said. One such time will be when the retaining wall on the hilltop at Wingra Stone is removed, he said.
The first phase of the project will rebuild the road from Nesbitt Road west to Maple Grove Road and is scheduled for the 2002 construction season. The remainder of the project will be completed several years later, according ta highway officials.
The city of Madison engineering division is inviting any one with archaeological or historical knowledge about the McKee Road corridor to attend the meeting or call Fernandez at (608) 266-9219 or Christy Bachmann at (608) 266-4095.
|
|
|
? ? ? About the BCP |
|