DOT ready to listen on Hoan Bridge bike, pedestrian options

Engineers planning the reconstruction of the Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge will listen to ideas for the addition of a bike and pedestrian lane during a town hall meeting in Bay View on Tuesday night.

Nearly a decade after rejecting a bike-lane proposal, the planners will take another look at how access for nonmotorized traffic could be accommodated during the reconstruction set to begin in 2013. The DOT will make its decision - yes or no on the nonmotorized addition to the Hoan - by late fall, according to Brian Roper, design supervisor for the I-794/Hoan Bridge project.

The decision on the bike lane would be folded into the engineering work for the larger rehabilitation. Engineering for that project is set to be done in spring 2012.

Roper said the creation of a bike and pedestrian path, either on the current bridge or an addition, would fit into the current estimate of $275 million to $350 million for the upcoming reconstruction.

The options being studied include closing one or more traffic lanes to accommodate nonmotorized vehicles, widening the bridge in some fashion to add the bike/pedestrian path or suspending a secondary bridge under the current structure.

A proposal to close a traffic lane was rejected in 2002, in part to maintain traffic flow during the reconstruction of the Marquette Interchange. That project is finished and the Hoan rehabilitation planning provides another opportunity to consider the options, Roper said.

Local legislators organized the meeting, which will be held in the Beulah Brinton Community Center, 2555 S. Bay St. The session will start at 5 p.m. and finish at 7.

Cycling advocates have been rallying to turn out a big crowd for the meeting. In this piece, Dave Schlabowske calls it "a watershed moment for bicycling in Wisconsin."