SOUTH MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Milwaukee County Department of Transportation’s “The Safe Streets Roadshow” was on the move again Thursday evening. This time, visiting the Night Out at the police department in South Milwaukee.
The roadshow meetings are a summer-long initiative. The county DOT planned meetings in all 19 municipalities in Milwaukee County to get neighborhood feedback on what needs to be changed to make roads safer in their area. These started in June and wrap at the end of this month. The main goal is to hear from residents.
“They drive too fast, they swerve all over the road, they ignore stop signs, it’s just too much,” South Milwaukee resident Ron Cholewinski explained.
Cholewinski is typically found riding his motorcycle. He is just one of many residents bringing their concerns to the county DOT at the roadshow meetings. The department has one main question: What would safer streets mean for your community?
“There’s too many uncontrolled intersections, where guys either crawl through it like I do or they don’t pay any attention to it at all and just fly through it 60-70 miles per hour,” Cholewinski explained.
“Buses throughout Milwaukee County would alleviate so much of the congestion on the streets and people in such a hurry to get somewhere and can’t there,” another South Milwaukee resident, Jacqueline Sedlar, added.
Sedlar believes mass transit is the answer to the reckless driving issues the county roads are seeing. She sold her car years ago.
“I can say the Milwaukee County Transit system, it’s the best,” Sedlar said.
According to the DOT, after 13 roadshow meetings this summer, residents said streets would feel safer if more people used transit, rode bikes, or walked. Also slowing down—and looking out for motorcycle riders.
“I pretend I’m the invisible man. That’s the best insurance, I can give ya. Just pretend no one sees ya at all,” Cholewinski said.
Both Cholewinski and Sedlar encourage all of us to join the conversation for safer roads.
“Oh, well it takes a community to raise a child, we got a lot of problems,” Sedlar said.
The Department of Transportation has six more of these roadshow meetings on the calendar:
- Oak Creek, August 9th, 2PM, Oak Creek Public Library, 8040 S. 6th St.
- City of Milwaukee, August 9th, 6PM, Kosciuszko Community Center, 2201 S. 7th St.
- Whitefish Bay, August 10th, 2PM, Whitefish Bay Public Library, 5420 N. Marlborough Dr
- Fox Point/River Hills, August 18th, 1PM, Friendship Circle Café & Bakery, 8649 N. Port Washington Rd.
- West Milwaukee, August 18th, 5PM‐7PM, West Milwaukee Intermediate School, 5104 W. Greenfield Ave. National Night Out Event (stop by the MCDOT Complete Communities table anytime between 5PM‐7PM)
- City of Milwaukee, (en Español) August 24th, 6PM, Sacred Heart Center, 1545 S. Layton Blvd. (this meeting and its accompanying materials will be entirely in the Spanish language)
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