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The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is cracking down on people camping at two park and ride lots in Milwaukee. The lots along Interstate 94 at Holt Avenue and College Avenue have been the focus of controversy since encampments cropped up there in early 2023. Video from News Chopper 12 shows the homeless encampments at the Holt Avenue and College Avenue park and ride lots that have only grown since WISN 12 News first started highlighting the issue more than a year ago. WISN 12 News reporter Nick Bohr spoke with people staying at the lot on Monday. Wanda Ward, 63, who has lived in a camper at the College Avenue lot for months, said she believes a rise in crime at the lots is responsible for the intensified attention from the state.”For the money I make, I can’t pay rent, so I stay here. And these other people ruined it for everybody else,” said Ward. The DOT said there had been 275 emergency calls to the lots in the past three months, including robberies, shots fired and drug overdoses. On Monday morning, the DOT placed white notices on all the vehicles at the Holt lot, warning the lot would be indefinitely closed and all vehicles would be removed in one week on Oct. 21. “We gotta be able to get in and out,” Ward said. “I don’t see how they can do that. Isn’t that holding us captive? Sort of. Because if we can’t come and go, what would we do?””We’re just out here trying to survive, said another resident who would only be identified as Rocky. She started living at the College Avenue lot in a tent earlier this year but now lives in a donated camper. “What are we going to do? These are our homes,” Rocky said. We don’t camp in these; these ain’t for vacation. We live in these. So, what are they going to do, take these away from us? Then what are we going to have? Nothing.”But in a statement Monday, the DOT said the lots “Continue to degrade and become less safe every day.” “It’s crazy because I shouldn’t be out here. I’m cold,” said Joann Romas, 73, who emerged from a tent walking with the assistance of a cane. She said she would agree with the DOT that the lots are nowhere to live but said she doesn’t have anywhere to go. When asked what she plans to do when the lot is closed, she said simply, “I’ll do the best I can, try to find somewhere else,” she said. “But I don’t have no money to do anything right now, but I know I need to be out of here.” Milwaukee County said Monday it has worked with the residents at the lots for more than a year and have found stable housing for more than 80 people over that span of time. Those in need of housing are asked to call 211.