Public and Businesses Shape Future of Busy Lake Hallie Intersections

For about the past year Ayres Associates has been helping the Village of Lake Hallie and its businesses and residents to sort through the design options for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of about 2 miles of Business 53 in this community sandwiched between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls in west-central Wisconsin.

Businesses and residents have been thoroughly engaged in the debate on what changes the intersections should undergo in the busy stretch, and project manager Lisa Fleming has been soaking in all their input.  As the Village Board has sought to adjust the evolving project plans to match public feedback, the project has moved toward consensus, as described in this Chippewa Herald article.

The preliminary design alternatives Ayres provided last year presented one option calling for roundabouts at the three intersections along this segment, and the other option called for placing traffic signals at all the intersections.

After seriously considering roundabouts at some intersections, the Village Board ultimately heard significant opposition, especially from the owners of businesses near those intersections, and asked Ayres to zero in on preliminary design alternatives involving intersections controlled by traffic signals. Lisa Fleming, former manager of municipal services at Ayres, brought the Village two new preliminary design concepts; the two are mostly the same except for providing two different possible locations for Business 53’s intersection with 118^th Street, including the below concept that would shift the intersection south of its current location. The concepts also include two different possible locations for 27^th Avenue’s intersection with Prairie View Road, as shown in the image above.

The project is complex and has involved satisfying a lot of diverse interests, Lisa says. In the end, the design will reflect a plan that balances and serves all of those interests as effectively as possible.