By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
For years, the North Franklin Street corridor has been considered one of Whitewater’s serene residential roadways. But property owners living along the stretch contend it has slowly transitioned to one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
After fielding complaints and concerns from those property owners, city officials proposed so-called traffic calming measures along North Franklin Street in the hope of mitigating speeding, truck traffic and other issues that have cropped up in recent years.
“Speeding is definitely an issue,” said resident Barbara Grubel, who was one of a small handful of residents living along North Franklin Street who shared concerns at a recent meeting. “It’s very difficult to cross the street with traffic coming.”
On a pilot basis, the Common Council on June 21 directed Chuck Nass, streets superintendent, to install temporary speed bumps along strategic areas of North Franklin Street. Plans also call for installing “No Trucks” signage throughout the corridor.
An entryway along North Franklin Street, into Fairhaven Senior Services, was a specific spot that was scrutinized during the recent discussion. Line-of-sight safety concerns for persons exiting the facility has been another ongoing issue along the corridor.
To address the Fairhaven component, the council backed a plan to install “No Parking” signs near the entrance and exit points.
City Manager Cameron Clapper said a series of infrastructure-related changes, elsewhere in the city, are a likely reason behind the unintended metamorphosis of turning North Franklin Street into one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
Pointing to the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Traffic Control Devices as a roadmap behind his recommendation, Nass said speed bumps — not stop signs — would be the preferred method of addressing speeding concerns.
From his vantage point, Nass pointed to two reasons behind the traffic increase. For motorists visiting the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Nass noted GPS systems typically direct people to drive through North Franklin Street.
Additionally, Nass said trucks entering and leaving the Whitewater Business Park, en route to Highway 59 typically use the residential corridor.
Based on an analysis of the area, Clapper confirmed speeding is an issue — the average motorist is driving 35 miles per hour in the area — though he said it was not as high as the 50-mile-per-hour complaints that had come into city hall.
The plan to install speed bumps on an interim basis was favored by the council as further overtures are made to gather feedback from residents living in the area amid the search for a permanent, long-term solution.
“Frankly, the data doesn’t say that speeding is as big of a problem as I initially assumed,” council member Stephanie Goettl said. “But it’s probably a bigger problem in the summer.”
Goettl’s line of thinking is behind the plan to install the speed bumps on a temporary basis. Under the current plan, they will be removed at some point this fall.
As for truck traffic, Nass was a hearty proponent of prohibiting it, moving forward. By design, Nass noted North Franklin Street is narrow by design and not suited for larger vehicles.
