FIVE MILWAUKEE COUNTY COMMUNITIES TEST STRATEGIES TO COMBAT RECKLESS DRIVING, MAKE ROADS SAFER FOR ALL USERS
Greendale, Shorewood, South Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and West Allis Launch Traffic Calming Demonstration Activities
SOUTH MILWAUKEE - On Monday, April 14, 2025, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley joined leaders from Greendale, Shorewood, South Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, and West Allis to announce the deployment of a series of traffic calming demonstration activities that will help each municipality study proposed improvements on their streets. The demonstration activities launch throughout April and continue through May.
“Reckless driving has reached crisis levels in our community. It will take all of us working together to tackle this important health, safety, and economic prosperity issue,” said County Executive David Crowley. “With this series of deployments, residents in five of our municipalities will see some of the work that’s being done to make our roads safer for everyone.”
The demonstration activities will use temporary measures like cones, speed trailers, and near-miss cameras to test strategies for combatting reckless driving, calming traffic, and improving multimodal safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and bus riders.
"South Milwaukee’s project at the intersection of North Chicago Avenue and Oak Street will help ensure that students can walk or bike to school more safely. We’re proud to partner with Milwaukee County and other suburban communities on this initiative," said Mayor Jim Shelenske.
These efforts are a part of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation’s (MCDOT) Complete Communities Transportation Planning Project, a safety initiative to increase multimodal safety and address reckless driving across all 19 Milwaukee County municipalities.
The demonstration activities were informed by community feedback received at the Safe Streets Roadshow public engagement meetings MCDOT conducted in 2023 in all of Milwaukee County’s municipalities.
“Reckless driving has no place in our neighborhoods. These temporary and movable speed cushions and Near-Miss Detection cameras are a direct response to the concerns we’ve heard from residents, and a step toward safer, calmer streets for everyone in West Allis,” said Mayor Dan Devine.
The projects are funded by a mix of local and federal dollars. Municipalities collaborated to contribute nearly $55,000 in funding to the program. This funding supplemented a nearly $220,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program. Traffic calming demonstration activities for each municipality include:
Village of Greendale: Speed trailers and signage will be located on Loomis Road at both Horizon and S. 68th Street. The equipment monitors traffic counts, collects new speed data and calms traffic speeds.
Later this month, the equipment will move to S. 76th Street & Root River Parkway, enabling the Village to collect data for Parkview Road and the pedestrian crossing to the Community Center.
This is the Village of Greendale’s second series of demonstration activities. The first occurred in October 2024 with temporary speed bumps, speed trailers and additional signage on Northway at Basswood and Arrowwood.
Village of Shorewood: In mid-April, the Village of Shorewood will install two temporary traffic circles at the intersections of Murray & Kensington and Murray & Beverly, along with temporary curb extensions at the intersections of Kensington & Larkin and Kensington & Bartlett. Additionally, there will be a temporary speed table at Morris & Pinedale. These locations have been identified as high-speed intersections and streets throughout the Shorewood community.
City of South Milwaukee: The City of South Milwaukee is temporarily narrowing Chicago Avenue (Highway 32) at the intersection of Oak Street. The project team is using use quick-build materials to calm traffic and collect vehicle counts and speed data.
Project funding allowed the City of South Milwaukee to purchase enough traffic barrels, cones, and lighted signage to significantly improve visibility to this uncontrolled intersection and forewarn motorists of potential pedestrian crossings in a high-traffic area near a school. Two speed trailers will be used at this location to collect traffic data.
The speed trailers will later be placed at other City of South Milwaukee locations known for high speeds, high occurrences of crashes or other traffic safety issues.
City of Wauwatosa: The City of Wauwatosa is conducting near-miss studies at two different locations: Menomonee River Parkway & Swan Boulevard (April) and Wauwatosa Avenue & North Avenue (May).
Project funding has been used to purchase two new Miovision Near-Miss Detection camera systems. The funding will allow data collected to be analyzed and for the cameras to be redeployed across Wauwatosa as needed.
City of West Allis: West Allis is conducting a near-miss study with Miovision Near-Miss Detection cameras and equipment at the intersection of Lincoln & S. 60th Street. Project funding will allow the data collected to be analyzed.
Additionally, a temporary speed cushion will be placed at a segment of S. 59th Street between Mitchell and Lapham. Temporary speed humps will be deployed near S. 96th Street & Maple Court and S. 97th Street between Schlinger Street and Washington Street.
Project funding will also advance the purchase of necessary signage, evaluation of speed study data, City of West Allis Department of Public Works labor, and promotional letters to residents.
About The Complete Communities Transportation Planning Project
In 2023, Milwaukee County launched the Complete Communities Transportation Planning Project, a new safety initiative to increase multimodal safety and address reckless driving across all 19 municipalities in Milwaukee County.
Phase Three of the Project is currently underway as the County works with each of its 19 municipalities to create their own Safety Action Plans. Phase Two of the project wrapped up in February 2025 when the County completed is Comprehensive Safety Action Plan.
In August 2024, Crowley signed legislation affirming Milwaukee County's commitment to Vision Zero by the year 2037 in combatting reckless driving, traffic violence, and fatal and serious injury crashes.
More information about Milwaukee County’s efforts to combat reckless driving is available here.
