Freeway congestion costs trucking industry money

– Michael Marquardt, Birchwood Transportation
Hitting the road
For trucking industry, sitting in
freeway congestion is lost dollars
Those who grind their teeth while sitting stock still on the Marquette or Zoo interchanges can only imagine how professional truckers feel while traveling through the Milwaukee area.
Trucking professionals in southeastern Wisconsin are looking forward to redesign recommendations from the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) — and will weigh in for upgrades.
“We are aware of the needs in southeastern Wisconsin — and know they will have to do some design work and will have to replace the Marquette Interchange,” said Thomas Howells, president of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association. “Clearly the freeways have a major impact on our industry — which is not to say that some of the local roads aren’t important. But Wisconsin truckers have a tendency to use the freeways in southeastern Wisconsin — even trucks from the Fox River Valley have to go through the Milwaukee area to leave the state. So we have to make sure there is enough capacity to keep the traffic flowing. Time is money. And if a truck is sitting in traffic for an hour and a half in Milwaukee, someone is paying for that.”
Congestion increasing
SEWRPC studies show that freeway vehicle-hours and traffic congestion are increasing — particularly in Milwaukee County. But the experiences of area truckers confirm what the diagrams are saying.
Pauline Jaske, president of Fairway Transit of Pewaukee, said that congestion is taking a toll on the trucking industry.
“It delays delivery times and impacts the bottom line because the truck isn’t moving at the rate it should be,” Jaske said. “And there are more accidents with the increase in congestion.”
According to Jaske, the Marquette Interchange is a problem area for Fairway drivers.
“The Milwaukee area is a problem — there is no doubt about that,” Jaske said. “We do have some traffic through the Marquette Interchange since our business is located on the west side. Coming up from Chicago and going up to the Sheboygan area is a problem.”
Michael Marquardt of Birchwood Transportation in Kenosha echoes Jaske’s sentiments.
“This Illinois-Wisconsin corridor is almost like Los Angeles when you think about the amount of traffic and the number of people,” Marquardt said, but added that he has seen worse. “We don’t experience near the problems in Milwaukee as we do in Chicago. The Chicago metro area costs us money. It slows us down. It takes us more time to cover fewer miles.”
Marquardt agreed with Jaske that the Marquette Interchange could use expansion, but due to differences between the two trucking operations, Marquardt said he and his drivers have managed to avoid peak traffic times on the Marquette Interchange but have not been so lucky on the Zoo Interchange.
“Well, we are professional drivers, so we make sure we don’t go downtown at 5 p.m.,” Marquardt said of the Marquette. “The Marquette Interchange is not as much of a headache as the Zoo Interchange — that’s where all the traffic is tied up. There are certain times of day when for no rhyme or reason it’s just impossible. But a lot of that has to do with road construction.” Highway 45, which intersects with I-94/894 at the interchange, has been under construction since last year in parts of Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.
Improvements necessary
Both Marquardt and Jaske are in favor of improvements to the freeway system. Jaske emphasized that small improvements can make a big difference.
“There used to be truck tip-overs continually at the airport interchange,” Jaske said. “We put in those chevrons — and since that time there haven’t been any truck tip-overs. That was a very economic thing to do because a truck tip-over backs up traffic for a long time.”
Both truckers would support a northern bypass — a project Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist’s staff asked SEWRPC to look at in their study but which since has been rejected. The idea was to study the possibility of a bypass that would run east and west north of the city and connect I-43 with Highway 41/45.
Jaske recalls a personal experience trying to get between 41 and 43.
“It normally takes me about 15 minutes to travel that amount of distance,” Jaske said. “This was over 45 minutes. I wondered how the people tolerated not having a freeway there.”
The bypass would also be helpful for Jaske’s business, she said.
“We also do construction deliveries in addition to long haul,” Jaske said. “Being able to get across would be helpful. We do deliveries to Port Washington and Washington County from the northwest side — deliveries to construction sites.”
Marquardt said his business would not be impacted by a northern bypass — but understands that many trucking firms would be.
“Being that we are in Kenosha, we are going to pick 41 or 43 before we get north of the city,” Marquardt said. “It’s not a big issue for us, but probably would be for a company in Menomonee Falls.”
The bottom line is that some improvements need to be made, according to Jaske.
“That is just poor planning,” Jake said of rebuilding southeastern Wisconsin’s freeways just as they are. “Anyone who has been in this area any length of time knows that traffic is increasing, and that the increase will continue in the future.”
Jaske also feels that once improvements are made, greater effort will be required to maintain freeways in the area.
“They need to plan for maintenance,” Jaske said. “Our freeway system has deteriorated to the point where you thought you were in Chicago. It is improving, but a few years ago you could not take a truck into downtown Milwaukee and keep the load in the truck. It was that bad.”
For a look at the planning process for replacement of southeastern Wisconsin’s federal highway system, see www.biztimes.com.
Aug. 17, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee