business motivation

One Milwaukee neighborhood is fed up with what’s happening in their own front yards and has turned to WISN 12 News for help. It’s a stretch of Silver Spring Drive just west of 76th Street. The stretch is set up like a highway’s on-ramp with several homes alongside it. Neighbors describe seeing cars constantly ignoring the 40 mph speed limit. “Everybody thinks it’s a freeway,” longtime resident JT Primer said. “They run 70 to 80 mph sometimes.”Neighbors said the reckless driving has sent cars and their wreckage into yards. One car even hit and seriously damaged a nearby home earlier this year. “That’s been a problem for years, for years. This is a bad intersection right here,” Primer added. Neighbors said nearby construction has only made matters worse. Security cameras have captured vehicles bypassing construction barriers and driving up on the curb and through lawns. It has some now looking for solutions. “Do you think a stoplight would get the job done?” WISN 12 News Hannah Hilyard asked. “I think it would; I think it would probably have to come down to a stoplight,” Henry Cooksey said. One neighbor, who did not want to be identified, contacted WISN 12 News after several failed attempts to reach city or state officials regarding the issue. But 12 News has learned Silver Spring Drive is actually a Milwaukee County road. “Everything is on the table right now for how to just get people to slow down,” Jeff Sponcia said. Sponcia is the transportation program planning manager with the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation. He said a nearly two-year study has determined Silver Spring Drive is a “Corridor of Concern” with 56 serious or deadly crashes from 2018 to 2022. A community dashboard tracking similar statistics shows another 15 from 2023 to today. The next steps following the county study are to address the dangers.Right now, the county is hosting workshops where residents can meet with county officials to discuss problems and solutions. “There, you will talk with Milwaukee County officials who are at the table when these kinds of decisions are made,” Sponcia said. The next one is Saturday, Oct. 12, from 1-2:30 p.m. at the West Allis Farmer’s Market. The final one is Tuesday, Oct. 15, from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Mitchell Street Branch of the Milwaukee Public Library. Anyone from Milwaukee County is invited. The county said the feedback will help them form their Comprehensive Safety Action Plan and determine what projects to prioritize.