I don’t know if I’m unique, but I always thought of Swan Boulevard, south of Menomonee River Parkway, as a well-kept secret. Once I had figured out that it was the quickest way to Highways 45 and 94 and a way to avoid Mayfair Mall traffic when trying to get to Bluemound Road, I was hooked. I even started suggesting it as a route to our house when friends and family from Illinois came to visit. (Hey, we have to let them in the state once in a while. Think of the tourism revenue!) And, I hate to admit it, but I sometimes go a little faster than the posted speed limit, due somewhat to the light traffic there most of the day, except at around 5 pm weekdays. All in all, Swan Boulevard was a nifty solution for my daily travels.

Well, that’s about to end...and soon. Signs posted along Menomonee River Parkway announce that there will be construction on Swan Boulevard beginning in July. According to the MMSD (Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District) website , Swan will be reduced to one lane each way for at least one year. And, the posted speed limit will be 25 mph. Gulp. This is going to be a very busy area...and not a shortcut at all. Suffice it to say, we should all consider an alternate route.

If you’ve driven through this area in the past couple of weeks, you’ve noticed that it has been transformed. Once the MMSD put up their bright orange fencing, the landscape went from wild, open fields to a giant, barren space that looks even larger than it did before. The change is startling, much like the transformation of Hart Park, which seems to have increased in size, since the beginning of that project.

For the last few years, in the fields far back of the county grounds near Swan Boulevard, crews have been busy digging and blasting, late into the night. In fact, a couple of years ago, the blasting was such that every day at around 8:00 am, the sirens would blare and our house would shake a bit. My husband jokes that perhaps they were building an underground missile silo under cover of Wauwatosa. Talk about a well-kept secret! Now that the county grounds have been cleared of brush and trees, his clandestine theory doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Although I, for one, am not big on conspiracy theories.

In any case, this mammoth project will not only take millions of dollars, it will take a lot of our patience. Relax, people. This is going to take a while. All we can hope is that in the end, our secret will be restored.