City council seeks public input on proposed Brown Street one-way conversion

The Rhinelander City Council will gather public input before making a decision on whether or not to convert a section of Brown Street to a one-lane one-way road.

The lane conversion, if pursued, would not happen until fall or next spring when the city plans to recoat the pavement surface regardless of any other changes.

The conversion would see Brown Street, from Anderson Street to Frederick Street, converted to one-lane of northbound traffic with angled parking on either side of the road. There is currently angled parking on one side and parallel parking on the other.

The proposed conversion would also add a four-way stop to the intersection of Brown and Frederick streets and update the signal lights at the internecion of Brown and Davenport streets.

The project, estimated at $30,000, would add about 30 additional parking spaces to the three-block stretch of Brown Street.

“I can’t make a 30-stall parking lot for $30,000,” Mayor Kris Hanus said. “That would cost us a couple hundred thousand, so I think the cost for a parking spot is relatively cheap and now is the time to do it because if we seal-coat the street you’re going to have 10 years that seal-coat is going to last.” 

Alderman Gerald Anderson asked if a downtown parking shortage has been determined by the city. Hanus said the potential conversion isn’t necessarily about solving a problem right now, but preventing one a decade from now.

“As your downtown starts to fill you’re going to have more and more of a stress on the parking,” Hanus said. “This is something we’re looking at not to deal with a problem necessarily today but it’s supposed to last 10 years into the future and what is your downtown going to look like in ten years? You’re going to have a police and fire station not there, it’s going to be redeveloped.”

In considering future issues, Hanus encouraged the council to look at how much downtown Rhinelander has changed and grown in the past 10 years.

Collision, congestion concerns

Alderman Luke Kramer said he’s done some additional research on the topic and has “gone both ways” since the conversion was proposed. Kramer said he was originally against the one-way.

“After listening to everybody talk about it last meeting I was for it,” Kramer said. “I did some more research … the city of Manitowoc was the first one in Wisconsin to initiate a one-way street. That was in 1960. In 2023 they started switching them all back.”

Kramer said his research showed Waukesha and Racine are among the Wisconsin cities with the most one-way streets and both of those cities are converting back to two-way streets.

Kramer pointed out that Minocqua — which was mentioned positively last meeting for the one-way street through its downtown — features parallel parking along the one-way street, unlike the proposed angled parking on Brown Street.

“With angled parking you’re going to have people backing into the flow of traffic,” he said. “... I think we need to look at this more as who is this actually going to benefit? Are those 30 spots worth all the accidents, the changes and the $30,000? That is something we could use somewhere else.”

Alderman David Holt said, similar to four-way stops, the narrow road and angled parking could make drivers more aware of their surroundings.

“Having angled parking that way could just as likely have the opposite effect which is people pay more close attention. It’s kind of like being in a parking lot, where it’s just sort of a no-man’s-land and every one has to be very careful,” he said.

Hanus asked Rhinelander Police Chief Lloyd Gauthier if there are “a lot” of collisions or accidents in the Walmart parking lot, as it’s a similar size to the three-blocks of Brown Street, to which Gauthier said “yes.”

“The bulk of our accidents would be inside the parking lot, whether it’s backing into a vehicle you didn’t see, or running into a parking lamp or street lamp in the parking lot — that has been done, the sheriff’s department smashed into one a year or two ago,” Gauthier said. 

Kramer also brought up concerns about snow banks in the winter that could cause drivers to park cars further out into the road, though later in the meeting Gauthier said the city does a good job of clearing snow from the downtown parking spaces overnight.

Anderson said it seems drivers are more likely to drive faster on one-way roads since they’re not facing oncoming traffic.

Alderman Steven Jopek said he’s seen statistics that show driving speed increases on one-way roads, however, Jopek also pointed out that the Brown Street conversion would be one lane, unlike one-ways commonly seen in other Wisconsin cities that have two or three lanes of one-way traffic.

“That can get pretty nightmarish, so I do think that that’s one thing we have going for us is that it’s a one-lane road,” Jopek said.

Alderman Thomas Barnett, who owns a business on Brown Street, said he’s heard some support for the conversion but has had far more people come to him “vehemently opposed” to the proposal. Barnett, who said he’s currently neutral, was in favor of holding a public listening session for more input.

“I think we should listen to our constituents and make our decisions based on what we hear during that listening session,” Barnett said.

Alderwoman Carrie Mikalauski motioned for the city council to have city administration move forward with a listening session on July 21. The city council voted unanimously in support of the listening session.

Michael Strasburg may be reached at [email protected].