Plan addresses thorny traffic problems

Talk about it

At 42 pages, the chapter on transportation is one of the biggest in the city of Hudson’s proposed new comprehensive plan.

After a lengthy inventory of existing streets and highways, and issues related to them, the plan offers some specific proposals for improving traffic flow in the city’s most congested areas – including the Carmichael Road corridor.

“Reducing the congestion, delays and undesirable stopping in the Carmichael Road corridor is a major objective for the Hudson transportation system,” the new plan written by the firm of Short Elliott Hendrickson states. “Numerous suggestions have been made in the past and some have been implemented. However, the congestion remains and is a major source of irritation to area motorists and business owners.”

SEH drafted the proposed new plan for the city for the next 20 years in consultation with the Plan Commission. The City Council will act on the commission’s recommendation that it adopt the plan following a public hearing at 6:45 p.m. Monday, Dec. 21. The hearing and City Council meeting to follow it will take place in the council chambers at City Hall, 505 Third St.

The proposed plan calls for a three-step approach to reducing congestion on Carmichael Road – particularly where it crosses Interstate 94.

The first priority, it says, is physically interconnecting the traffic signals on Carmichael at Coulee Road, the I-94 entrance and exit ramps, Crest View Drive, Center Drive and Hanley Road.

The plan indicates that some of the signals aren’t coordinated with the others.

“The most economical way to improve traffic flow would be to optimize the traffic signal coordination,” the plan says.

The second and third steps to improving traffic flow suggested by the plan involve experimenting with lane rearrangements and creating new I-94 exit and entrance ramps.

The entire proposed comprehensive plan update can be viewed through a link on the city of Hudson’s Web site, www.ci.hudson.wi.us. Click on “City of Hudson Comprehensive Plan – SEH” under the column with the heading “Industrial and Commercial Development.”

Be prepared to wait while the nearly 200-page plan downloads to your computer.

Copies of the proposed plan are also available for viewing through the Community Development Department at City Hall. Contact Community Development Director Dennis Darnold at (715) 386-4776 or ddarnold@ci.hudson.wi.us to request a copy of the proposal.

Tags: local government, city council, comprehensive plan, news, hudson, traffic