Commuter madness

In both senses of the word.

Infrastructure maintenance continues apace around here. Like many other cities, Milwaukee is ringed by a vaguely square-shaped network of interstate highways, with the city at the top right-hand corner.  To the south is Chicago, to the west is Madison, and to the southwest (the diagonal corner from the city) is a network of suburbs.

Work on the Marquette interchange (the corner where the city sits) was completed a couple of years ago.  The State has been working on the stretch of I-94 from the state line north for several years as well (the better to lure our Illinois brethren up here to spend their money).

Now, however, they are at the point where they need to rebuild another interchange - this would be the lower right-hand corner on our square.  The approach along the bottom of the square to that corner is now effectively closed - until December.

Why all the talk of squares, interchanges and rebuilds?  Because all those people who would normally travel from the bottom left corner across to the bottom right corner and then north to the city are coming around the other way, creating a whole lot more traffic on my little stretch of the interstate (I join the flow about halfway from the upper left corner to the city).

I noticed it on the way home last week; granted, I left work right at the height of rush hour, but traffic seemed exceptionally snarly.  It took a few minutes to figure out why.

An after work rush hour is to be expected, but now that we are a week or so into the process, all those people are starting to come my way in the morning, ruining my eleven minute door-to-door commute.  And this is at quarter after six - it's barely light out.

Just about the time that interchange and roadwork is complete, the final rebuild - the top left corner Zoo interchange - will be started.  This is the busiest interchange in the state, and will spill its traffic all over the surface streets in my neighborhood for close to three years.

That whole commuter light rail boondoggle from a few years ago?  Beginning to look better and better.