The East Johnson Reconstruction project was selected for a State Finalist award through the American Council of Engineering Companies of Wisconsin Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. The project team will be recognized at the awards banquet on October 1st, 2021, at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
East Johnson Street is one of three primary east/west arterials on the east Madison, Wisconsin, isthmus serving 30,000 vehicles per day. The existing corridor was last reconstructed in the 1960s and needed upgrading. The City of Madison hired Strand Associates, Inc.® to work with the City and the public to design replacements for aging underground sanitary sewer and water main infrastructure and deteriorating pavement, and to improve service to all users by achieving end-to-end bicycle accommodation and improving existing pedestrian accommodation.
Improvements to enhance multimodal accommodations that are both welcoming and safe for bicyclists and pedestrians included:
- Reducing travel lane widths from 11 to 10 feet to provide space for multimodal improvements.
- Reconfiguring the roadway on the Yahara River bridge to make room for a multiuse path on the bridge, while avoiding adverse impacts to this historically significant structure.
- Incorporating the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad crossings and equipment into the design to avoid costly impacts and maintain or improve clearances.
- Providing an off-street cycle-track (6-foot wide sidewalk and 10-foot wide bicycle path), along the south side of the roadway from the Yahara River bridge to First Street (STH 113), with a ‘bicycle interchange’ with the existing Yahara River path.
- Enhancing bicycle and pedestrian accommodations and improving safety with bicycle signals, green colored crosswalk, dedicated signal crossing phase, a curb bump-out, and widening of roadway median.
