Madison Transportation Commission asks staff to draft test of Williamson Street peak‑hour lane removal

The Madison Transportation Commission voted Aug. 13 to ask city staff to return to the commission on Aug. 27 with a detailed proposal for a time‑limited test of removing peak‑hour travel lanes on Williamson Street.

The commission’s request follows months of public concern after several crashes in recent years in which motor vehicles left the roadway and struck buildings along the commercial corridor between Brearly Street and Thornton Avenue. The test would be a temporary, reversible measure to evaluate effects on traffic flow, left‑turn movements, pedestrian safety and diversion to parallel streets.

Tom Moore, traffic engineering, told the commission the crash record includes a range of causes — drunk driving, medical events and speeding — and that only the most recent crash into Motherfools coffeehouse occurred during a weekday afternoon peak. He outlined technical limits in current modeling, particularly uncertainty about left‑turn volumes and how much traffic would divert from Williamson during a test. "All it takes is, you know, 1 cycle or 2 for it to back up and just…