Lake Mendota Drive, Salt Route Changes and Highlights for the Week of December 20

Lake Mendota Drive

The City of Madison is planning to reconstruct Lake Mendota Dr.  Due to the size/scope of the work, this work will be completed over several years, with work being completed on several blocks each year.  In 2022, work is planned for the western most blocks, in 2023, the eastern blocks, and the middle blocks in 2024.

Engineering has scheduled a virtual public information meeting for 6:30 p.m., Jan. 11, 2022, via Zoom. Registration is required. City staff will be on hand to answer questions.

• Jan. 11, 2022 Public Information Meeting Registration
• Lake Mendota Drive Survey is now open. Please complete by Jan. 18, 2022.

More information on Lake Mendota Drive Project Page.

• The Engineering Division reminds you to pay attention to what you put down your drain to avoid a sanitary sewer backup while hosting this holiday season. During the holidays, more people bake and cook more. Improper disposal of grease and food scraps can increase the likelihood of a backup occurring. Click here to learn about best practices to help avoid clogs. If you want to know what actually goes down the pipes, watch the Everyday Engineering podcast “Down the drain: bowling balls, bacon grease, Legos.”

• The City of Madison Streets Division’s Urban Forestry Department is asking residents to help control the gypsy moth population. This winter, please look for and then destroy the egg masses for this species that are on your property. Learn more here.

• The Omicron variant has been detected in Dane County. Public Health Madison & Dane County is encouraging everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19, or get a booster if they’re eligible. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), the state of Wisconsin is seeing some of the highest case counts in the country, with more than half of the state’s hospitals currently operating at overall peak capacity. Learn more here, and make a vaccination appointment here.

Before the snowy season really begins, the Streets Division has shared details about changes to the salt routes in District 19.

Some of the changes are restoring streets to the salt route network that were temporarily removed last winter.

Other changes are to permanently remove segments of the salt routes.

Many of the reductions were in place during last winter. The changes are also highly visible from what residents may remember from winter's past.

Here are the street sections in District 19 that were restored to the salt routes:

• Offshore Dr from Nautilus Dr to S. Yellowstone Dr
• Inner Dr from S. Yellowstone Dr to Colony Dr

Here are the street sections that had been part of the salt route network in the past, but no longer are:

• S. Yellowstone Dr from Offshore Dr to Inner Dr
• Harvest Hill Rd from N. Gammon to Pebble Beach Dr
• Nautilus Dr from Mineral Point Rd to Inner Dr / Island Dr
• Baker Ave from University Ave from Lake Mendota Drive
• Lake Mendota Drive from Baker Ave from Capital Ave
• Lake Mendota Drive from Merrill Springs Rd east to the city limits

What are salt routes?

Salt routes are the roadways the Streets Division plows and salts during every snowstorm. These are roads around schools, hospitals, Madison Metro routes, and other critical transportation corridors.  Due to the salt and traffic, these roads are usually clear pavement following snowstorms. Around 48% of all traffic lanes of Madison fall into this category.

What happens to the streets that aren’t salt routes?

These are the residential neighborhood streets. They are never salted. They are plowed when there is three or more inches of snow on the road.

These roads get little traffic and since they are not salted, they will have a layer of snow and ice on them throughout the winter.

The Streets Division will apply sand as needed to these streets if the roadways become slippery.

Why were the above streets removed from the salt route network?

For the winter of 2020/2021, the Streets Division carefully evaluated the salt route network.  They found many segments of streets no longer met the criteria to be salted and have been removed from the salt route network.

Changes with Madison Metro routes have also caused changes to salt routes.

What’s the benefit of removing streets from the salt route network?

The Streets Division needs to reduce the amount of salt that’s put down on the roads.

All of the salt deployed – that includes the salt the Streets Division uses, and the salt used by residents on their sidewalks and driveways, and salt used on parking lots, and the salt used by Dane County – winds up in our local waters including the water we drink.

The Streets Division are doing the best they can to control and limit their salt usage. Other actions have included installing scales at their sites and working to incorporate GPS data into salt reduction methodology. 

Reducing the number of streets that get salted helps with reductions as well.

Why add back salt routes that were removed last year?

Since schools have returned to in-person instruction, the roads around the schools will once again be salted for the school buses.

Also, some of the other reductions were due to Madison Metro changing their routes.

What to know more?

Further information about the Streets Division winter operations can also be found at www.cityofmadison.com/Winter. 

• The Streets Division is happy to announce that as of December 10, you will now have more opportunities every month to set out large items for collection when you submit a large item work order. Learn more here.

• Curbside yard waste collection by the Streets Division has ended for 2021. The last chance collection that began on December 6 has been completed. Do not place yard waste out to the curb for pickup at this time. And if you already have a yard waste pile on your terrace at this time, it is not likely to be collected this year as collections have ended. Yard waste material should be taken to a drop-off site. The drop-off sites are located at 4602 Sycamore Avenue and 1501 W. Badger Road. These two sites are currently on winter hours. This means they are open from 7:30am to 2:30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Curbside collection will resume in the spring of 2022. The exact start date of the spring collections will be announced later. Additional information about yard waste, the drop-off sites, and other Streets Division services can be found at www.cityofmadison.com/Streets.

• The Streets Division is performing brush collection in response to the wind storm that hit Madison on the evening of December 15, 2021. You may place woody material that meets the brush collection specifications on the terrace for collection. If you need curbside brush collection, set the brush out for pickup as collection is already underway. Crews collecting brush from the storm will not be collecting yard waste. Read more here.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, etc., about the budget, feel free to reach out: district19@cityofmadison.com

-Keith F