The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee County Post • April 28, 2017 If the new Von Maur store at The Corners in the Town of Brookfield were any closer to the freeway, we'd be driving a tunnel through the middle of it. Westbound I-94 drivers can read the license plates in the parking lot that feeds into the Sendik's that's in the complex. The in-your-face or, better put, in-your-windshield design is brilliant. The closer any destination is to a major free- way interchange the better, and if Von Maur and The Corners were any nearer, the per- fume counter would have a mile marker on it. Society and American commerce may be changing but two things remain true: We go almost everywhere in automobiles or trucks and out of sight is literally out of mind. Transportation planning, freeway access, land use and infrastructure are more impor- tant than ever in economic development. If you want to create jobs at physical destina- tions, you'd better be either in the heart of a big city or the edge of a major highway, preferably with lots of lanes. The liberal politicians who have misman- aged Milwaukee are lucking into the first part but are clueless in understanding the second. Their aversion to freeway widening and expansion has made much of Milwaukee County a transportation ghetto, forcing jobs, development and investment farther out. In the meantime, Milwaukee is beginning to lay the crude "tracks" for its inane "Streetcar" that will plod along on a handful of city streets delivering nobody to nowhere. But just beyond the city's misman- aged limits, southeastern Wisconsin is booming. The boom is everywhere there is good freeway access. We could plot a map of the economic hotspots in this region and every one of them would be on top a well-designed free- way interchange. The Corners, on I-94 where Brookfield and Waukesha come together, is an obvious example. Ozaukee County's two hottest regions for years have been the Mequon Road and Highway 60 interchanges with I-43. Further south in Milwaukee County, Bayshore continues to do reason- ably well thanks to its location on the free- way although hampered by the awful design of I-43 just north of it. But this story is not limited to retail. Distribution centers are becoming the new factory in industrial Wisconsin. Kenosha County is busting out all over with them. The biggest are the giant Amazon and Uline facilities but others are popping up as well. Kenosha is one of the hottest spots for eco- nomic development in the state and all of it is happening along the newly widened eight- lane stretch of I-94. With future retail trends heavily biased to online sales, these distri- bution centers are becoming the new retail hubs. You don't actually go to them to buy anything but everything comes from one of them. They are major job creators. Meanwhile, in Milwaukee County with its Marxist County Board and clueless Common Council, the freeway interchanges remain barren, riddled with poor housing stock and almost no available land. Politicians continue to oppose freeway expansion because of the archaic and dis- credited belief that it somehow drives jobs and people to the suburbs. (Hint: They're already there.) There are, however, three exceptions in Milwaukee County. Mayfair Collection and nearby Mayfair Mall along I-41 are the most important retail destinations in the state. The construction of an interchange on Drexel Avenue on I-94 in southern Milwaukee County is unleashing a torrent of development. Still early in its growth is the Drexel Town Square, which is on the way to becoming a boom town. But there is so much available land nearby that we are in the baby stages of what will be a crucial job- creating economic zone. I-94 is eight lanes just north of Drexel and the Legislature and governor are likely to greenlight the com- pletion of the eight-lane extension to north- ern Kenosha County (yay, Racine County) this spring. But the other story is even more com- pelling. In a relatively low-income area laid barren by the closing of several factories, a boom has occurred just south of I-94 and Miller Park along 43rd Street (or Miller Park Way). When the new stadium was built, the freeway interchange was dramatically improved. The collateral benefit was a major retail and dining strip that grew out of Rust Belt rubble. This would not have happened without the freeway construction. The elephant in this column's room is the building binge in downtown Milwaukee. Transportation naysayers will argue that all of this is driven by millennials who want to live and work in highly urban areas and con- sider living in the suburbs akin to sleeping on a bed of nails. As usual, they miss the point. Virtually every major project down- town right now is on top of a freeway exit. The new Bucks arena is a hop off I-43 and virtually centered in the Marquette Interchange. The Northwestern headquar- ters is at the dead end of the Hoan Bridge and at its merging with I-794. The Westin hotel and Northwestern apartment complex are two blocks from I-94's Van Buren exit. The entire Third Ward boom is off the south peg of that same exit. In the meantime, I-43 north of downtown is blighted with no investment and crummy interchanges littered with busted-out hous- es. You have to be visually blind and intel- lectually bankrupt to not figure out what's going on here. The vehicles may soon be autonomous and the cars may be electric but the automobile and truck are here to stay and will be the conduit for all economic development. Streetcars and trolleys are as archaic as the stagecoach. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). OPINION Last week's question What do you think about the threat North Korea poses to the United States? Has President Donald Trump been strong or destabilizing in his dealings with the authoritarian Communist regime? This week's question What do you think of President Donald Trump after his first 100 days in office? Or, what's your reaction to the newly released book "Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign" about Clinton's failed 2016 presidential bid? It includes a remark about Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' populist success in the Democratic primary in which Clinton is quoted as saying: "I do not understand what is happening in our country." Agree or disagree? Editor's note: When responding to the Question of the Week, please include your full name with spelling, phone number and city where you live. Phone numbers will not be published. Call 414-744-6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dmuck@ conleynet.com. Question of the week Freeway access is driving all development in our region STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE If you build it, they will come Letters policy Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dan Muckelbauer, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by email to: dmuck@conleynet.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, length and clarity. Letters should be typewritten or printed and include full name, phone number and address. Please keep your letters to no more than 400 words.

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