WisDOT to present US 151 (Verona Road) Environmental Impact Study at public information meeting September 20

September 19, 2007

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is resuming the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) of the US 151 corridor from Nakoma Road to County PD. The study has been on hold for two years as WisDOT officials evaluated comments from the Draft EIS (DEIS), assessed funding availability, and factored rising traffic volumes on the Beltline. A public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 20, at 6 p.m. at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School Cafeteria at 5405 Flad Avenue in Madison. Exhibits will be on display and project team staff will be available to answer questions.

In response to public and agency comments, the study is being changed in several ways:

• The scope of the environmental study is being reduced to include only the Verona Road portion and no longer includes the West Beltline.
• The study will now include evaluations on how to best stage construction of the selected improvement into three or more separate efforts spaced over many years. The replacement of Verona Road and Beltline interchange, where safety and congestion needs are the greatest, would occur first.
• Smaller improvements at spot locations that improve safety and reduce congestion, extending the current roadway’s life, will be evaluated for cost-effectiveness.
• The study of the West Beltline capacity expansion and new grade-separated crossings between interchanges are now part of a new operations/safety study of the entire Beltline corridor. Improvements recommended by that study will have separate environmental, design, and construction and will include other public involvement efforts.

WisDOT hopes to release a Supplemental DEIS detailing these improvements within two years and a Final EIS within the next three years. This would allow the reconstruction of the Verona Road/Beltline interchange to begin as early as 2013 or 2014.

Persons unable to attend the meeting can make their comments by contacting Tom Lynch, Strand Associates, at (608) 251-4843 or Larry Barta, WisDOT, at (608) 246-3884.

St. Maria Goretti Catholic School Cafeteria is wheelchair-accessible. Persons with hearing impairments who wish special interpreter accommodations for the meeting should contact the WisDOT Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (608) 246-5385.

For more information, contact:
Larry Barta, WisDOT
(608) 246-3884

Tom Lynch, Strand Associates
(608) 251-4843