Wauwatosa Goes Green on Bike-Friendly Street

What’s black and red and green all over on North Avenue in the Wisconsin city of Wauwatosa? That’s the newly reconstructed black asphalt roadway with its red-painted crosswalks and, most prominently, its bright green bike lanes and bike boxes along 16 city blocks.

Wauwatosa leaders and others celebrated the City’s first bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly roadway with a ribbon cutting on Saturday, followed by a community bike parade. Ayres Associates worked with the City to develop design plans and provide construction supervision for the street.

One of the most attention-grabbing elements of the street project is the new green “bike boxes” at the intersection of 68th Street with North Avenue. The bike box is an area ahead of the stop line for motor vehicle traffic at a signalized intersection. Bicyclists can pull up in front of cars and trucks at a red light, making them much more visible and increasing safety, especially for left turns. The Wisconsin Bicycle Fed’s website has details.

City leaders and businesses got behind the $1.5 million project, which they say will help residents and visitors view Tosa as a destination. Check out the news report from CBS 58 and the East Tosa Facebook page.

“It’s not very often you can return to make a significant impact to create a sense of community and quality of life for the neighborhood and businesses where you grew up,” said traffic engineer and Wauwatosa native Ken Voigt (he’s pictured being interviewed at the ribbon cutting). “This has been one of those career highlights for me. Great street designs that provide equity for all users are now being sought by society. This requires engineers to treat each street as a special public space, not just a means to move auto traffic through a corridor.’’

Other project highlights include new traffic signals with flashing yellow arrows and video detection on all approaches; red colored crosswalks and pedestrian islands to draw motorists’ attention to pedestrians; and solar-powered, rectangular, rapid flashing beacons at the intersection of 73rd Street and North Avenue to provide a safe crossing for children walking to Roosevelt Elementary School.