The city of Madison is set to receive $15.1 million in funding from the Biden-Harris administration for a major infrastructure project to enhance safety and make travel more efficient for those commuting on the John Nolen Drive bridges.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration is giving nearly $300 million for nine bridge projects, according to an April 13 news release. Wisconsin's John Nolan Drive Causeway includes six off-system bridges.
“In Wisconsin, we’re helping replace 6 bridges along the John Nolen Drive Causeway - a major artery into downtown Madison and across Lake Monona,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg wrote in a April 13 Twitter post. “Improvements include a separated bike path, traffic signals, lighting & better traffic management technology.”
Around 45,000 vehicles use these bridges on a daily basis, the release reported. In addition to making a safer and more sustainable road, sponsors of the project believe the replacement these bridges will increase property values and save the community millions of dollars in the long-term.
The project, expected to began as early as 2025, is divided into three segments and involves reconstructing the six bridges, reconfiguring lanes and cross sections, expanding paths to separate bike and pedestrian facilities and reconstructing the shoreline along Lake Monona, according to Madison's engineering department. Other proposed improvements include a pedestrian and bike underpass, reconstruction of storm sewers and the installation of traffic signals and street lighting.
“Bridges tie together communities across our country – large and small,” FHA Shailen Bhatt said in the release. “Over the next five years, the Bridge Investment Program will help repair, replace and rehabilitate structures that allow working people to get to their jobs, families to get their kids to school and truck drivers to get goods to store shelves. That is an investment in our country’s economic strength and in the safety and long-term growth of the communities nearby.”
