Zoo Interchange Public Hearing

Friends of the Monarch Trail and the Milwaukee County Grounds:

The reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange is imminent. The Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation (DOT) is holding two days of public hearings about their plans for this huge project on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Please plan to attend one of them and voice your concern for the preservation of wildlife habitat. The plans include the proposed creation of stormwater detention ponds for runoff from the freeway.

The following information was provided by Dianne Dagalen of the Sierra Club.

DOT Stormwater proposals:

·               A three-acre toxic stormwater pond (instead of nectaring plants) to replace the South Berm of the Monarch Trail, with the surrounding wetlands filled in by excavation.

·               A five acre pond to replace the Oak Leaf Bike Trail at Underwood Creek Pkwy.

·               Four acres clear-cut for a pond on the historic Honey Creek Parkway.

12 acres of county parkland may be lost to these ponds, which are designed to hold toxic runoff that salt and heavy metals from vehicle exhaust and brake wear. Furthermore, Milwaukee County taxpayers will be responsible for pond maintenance and liability.

There are alternatives: permeable pavement for highway shoulders, roadside swales

with catchment tunnels, underground cisterns, and bio-filtration fields.

Let DOT know that you don't want county parkland used for stormwater ponds.
> Come to the hearings and submit a DOT Comment Form. 
> Mail a form from on-line: www.sefreeways.org

> Email your comments to: dotdtsdsezoo@dot.wi.gov or
> Fax them to: 262-548-5662.
Deadline:  Comments must be postmarked by April 4, 2011.

All Wisconsin residents may comment on the Zoo Interchange.

ZOO  INTERCHANGE  PUBLIC  HEARING

Tues., March 22nd (2-7pm)  
Wed., March 23rd (4-8pm)

Tommy Thompson Youth Center 
640 N. 84th St.

West Allis State Fair Park, gate #5.

If you have questions contact Dianne Dagelen, Sierra Club Conservation Chair:

ddagelen@sbcglobal.net

414-771-1505

view of Eschweiler Buildings from the Monarch Trail

To see more images of the Monarch Trail and County Grounds, click here.