Milwaukee's Secret to Reducing Speeding by 27%

Milwaukee’s efforts to improve road safety through changes in the physical design of roads is paying off, with city data showing a reduction of 27 percent in speeding at projects completed in 2024. According to a piece by Jeramey Jannene in Urban Milwaukee, projects completed in 2023 led to a 28 percent reduction in “life-changing injury crashes” and reduced crashes by 15 percent and injury crashes by 7 percent.

The effort was spearheaded by Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who declared reckless driving a public safety crisis in 2021. Thanks to the interventions, “Certain streets have shown great speed reductions, either with raised crosswalks or street reconfigurations. A speed hump on W. Windlake Avenue cut the percentage of motorists exceeding the speed limit from 30% to 2%. A two-way protected bike lane and other calming measures on Van Buren Street cut speeding from 20% to 3%.” The city has plans to complete 60 traffic calming projects by the end of 2025.