Committee backs safety-focused design for State Highway 52 (East Wausau Avenue), directs follow-up on lighting and sidewalk

The Wausau Infrastructure and Facilities Committee on June 12 recommended the city endorse Alternative A2 for the planned reconstruction of State Highway 52 (East Wausau Avenue) from North Sixth Street to North Eighteenth Street, citing rear-end crash patterns and school-hour traffic as primary safety drivers.

Stephanie Christiansen, the EMCS consultant designing the project for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, told the committee the existing pavement has reached the end of its service life and that "there's a pattern of rear end crashes" between Sixth and Thirteenth streets. She summarized the scoping crash review covering a five-year period (2017'021), which found 41 crashes in that segment with about half being rear-end collisions and roughly 37 percent angle collisions; roughly 40 percent of drivers involved were under age 25 and many crashes occurred during morning and afternoon school periods.

The recommended Alternative A2 calls for 11-foot travel lanes and a 12-foot two-way center left-turn lane for much of the corridor, with a target five-foot boulevard to allow replanting. Alan (staff member) said the staff report recommended A2 "based on the safety aspect of it" and because the A2 typical section reduces right-of-way impacts compared with the wider A1 option. The committee approved a motion "to move forward with alternative A2 for this phase," seconded from Alder Watson; the motion carried 5-0.

Why it matters: The project is programmed by the…