Wauwatosa committee bans trucks from right turns at Glenview Place intersection after repeated strikes

A Wauwatosa City committee voted 6-0 to prohibit trucks from turning right from the north leg of Glenview Place onto the west leg of the state highway intersection after staff reported repeated strikes to traffic-signal equipment.

The action followed a staff presentation by Michael May of the engineering department, who said the signal equipment at the corner has been struck “at least twice,” and that when the city placed barricades over the equipment the barricades were “taken and dragged down the road,” which staff believe indicates large trucks are responsible. Peter Hanson, a property owner at the former Western Building Products site on Glenview Place, told the committee the intersection is “very, very tight” and urged exploring restrictions on parking near the corner and clearer signage to reduce confusion and turning conflicts.

May said staff ran truck-turning templates and found that “anything larger than a box truck” jumps the curb and strikes city infrastructure at that location. He explained the signal detection loops and old conduit limit the ability to move the stop bar far enough to change vehicle detection, and that converting the intersection to camera detection would be costly because the existing conduit is full of wiring. May told the committee the city has placed a temporary sign and that four strikes to infrastructure occurred in January and February, with at least one requiring weekend crew work to repair.

Committee members raised concerns about nearby construction and school safety. One member said bridge work and other nearby construction could increase traffic and suggested delaying changes until after construction; another member noted children walking to St. Jude’s and urged caution before sending additional truck traffic through that neighborhood. The committee discussed short-term measures such as adding a “no outlet” sign on Glenview and reviewing signal timing to reduce queueing.

A motion to adopt the truck-turn prohibition was made, seconded by Alderman Champagne, and approved on a 6-0 vote. The committee recorded the outcome as approved; no individual roll-call of yes votes was read into the record. The committee directed staff to continue examining short-term mitigations (signing, stop-bar placement, parking restrictions) and longer-term engineering solutions.

Staff noted the intersection to the south is a state highway and that a full reconstruction of Highway 181 is planned for 2031 and is largely DOT-funded; committee members identified the DOT project as an opportunity to review turning movements during a future redesign. May said the city will monitor the intersection and return with further recommendations as needed.