MILWAUKEE — Broken bones from head to toe.
“I don’t want to scare anybody.”
Decades of crashes with vehicles.
“I’ve had lots of close calls. It can be painful and traumatic and life-threatening.”
For Ammar Nsoroma, he has no choice but to enter the figurative boxing ring every day against an overwhelming opponent. He is a cyclist on the roads of Milwaukee every single day, rain or shine. From sweltering heat to the dead of winter, he mounts his two-wheeled steed ready to go to battle against an unrelenting adversary, sometimes weighing in at several tons and frequently going at speeds he can’t keep up with.
“I feel like I’m looking out more for cars than they are looking for cyclists,” Nsoroma said. “I think I have more to lose if there is a collision.”
Nsoroma has a quiet confidence about him. He needs that with how dangerous it can be for his everyday commute on his bicycle. With his orange helmet on and colorful messenger bag, it’s hard to miss Nsoroma; just the way he likes it.
“I feel like I’m looking out more for cars than they are looking for cyclists,” Nsoroma said. “I think I have more to lose if there is a collision.”
“I try to stay visible,” Nsoroma said. “But you do get that feeling on the street. It’s a balance between being an aggressive rider but also, being cautious.”
Since 2017, nine cyclists have been killed in crashes with motor vehicles in Milwaukee. Hundreds more were injured in crashes, ranging from minor to serious. If Nsoroma’s experience is any indication, it’s because drivers don’t share the roads with cyclists like him.
“I try to stay in the middle of the bike lane because you get people passing you, sometimes 60 miles per hour,” Nsoroma said. “If they’re too close and you’re swerving around debris or potholes in the bike lane, that can be dangerous also.”
One area where it’s especially bad, according to Nsoroma, is one of the more complicated intersections in the city; where Fond du Lac Avenue, 27th Street, and Center Street intersect.
WATCH: Riding a bike in Milwaukee can be scary. TMJ4 went out to see what it is like for everyday cyclists:
“It gets pretty bad,” Nsoroma said. “When you’re stopped at intersections, you have to pay special attention to make sure nobody’s coming behind you in the right lane. If they don’t have a signal on, you don’t know if they’re going to make a right turn or pass you on the right as you cross the lane. I’m constantly looking behind me at an intersection. Once a car goes behind me, I have to try and figure out, navigate how much space I’ll have if they pass me on the right.”
He avoids Fond du Lac on most days but sometimes, it’s unavoidable. To better understand how difficult it can be for cyclists at this intersection, Nsoroma rode through the area with the I-Team.
WATCH: 27th Street provides a complicated section of roadway for cyclists and drivers
Heading south on 27th Street provides a complicated section of roadway to traverse for cyclists and drivers alike. North of the intersection, there is a parking lane, bike lane, and driving lane. Approaching Center Street, the parking lane goes away and a turning lane starts with the bike lane starting to disappear. When crossing Center Street, the bike lane completely disappears in favor of two driving lanes. However, those two driving lanes only last for roughly 50 feet. While passing through Fond du Lac Avenue, the bike and parking lanes return while drivers are bottlenecked down to a single lane again. It’s a section of roadway where Nsoroma has his head on a swivel the entire time.
“This is the part you got to watch out for with these cars passing on the right,” Nsoroma said. “Getting in the right lane right here. I’m checking behind me to make sure no one is coming behind me on the side.”
“The gods are with us a little bit today,” Jake Newborn with the Wisconsin Bike Federation said.
Newborn is an advocate for safer streets through the Bike Fed. He hit the streets with the I-Team and Nsoroma to show the best strategies for cyclists and pedestrians to keep themselves safe.
“Even if you’re coming down one lane from 27th, there is that passing spot that they’ve got right there and it’s worn away,” Newborn said. “Someone could, unwillingly say, oh look there’s another lane that’s going to open up. So they move over to the right and then all of a sudden, there’s a bike lane here.”
It’s a situation that can set drivers up to fail. This intersection has seen a number of unsafe passing on the right citations since 2017, with 27th Street a target area for police, essentially from Capitol Drive to the north down to Oklahoma Avenue on the south. While the responsibility is ultimately on the driver to follow the rules, Newborn says this intersection allows for improper driving.
“Any time you have this many intersecting roads, it can be confusing,” Newborn said. “Not only for cyclists but for drivers. Especially if you don’t drive through here all the time or you’re not quite sure.”
To try and make the road safer for people like him and Nsoroma, Newborn hopes the city could install a curb bump out or widen the triangular island at the intersection to help prevent drivers from getting in the right lane between Center Street and Fond du Lac Avenue.
Although Mike Pyritz, Regional Communications Manager for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Southeast Region, doesn’t agree.
“Reducing efficiency of a roadway doesn’t make it safer necessarily,” Pyritz said. “In fact, a lot of times, it’s exactly the opposite.”
WATCH: WisDOT's Mike Pyritz discusses bumpouts as a traffic calming measure
Pyritz says creating artificial congestion through the use of bumpouts or other traffic calming measures can push reckless drivers to other streets that aren’t used to seeing higher levels of traffic. He says this could make those areas more susceptible to reckless driving problems.
“Why people would run lights or drive aggressively or recklessly, I don’t understand why they feel the need to do that,” Pyritz said. “That’s a law enforcement issue as much as it’s a design issue.”
In response to the I-Team’s interview with Pyritz, WisDOT sent the following statement:
Street design putting pedes... by TODAY'S TMJ4
While DOT is not responsible for this section of Fond du Lac Avenue, Pyritz says DOT is working with the City of Milwaukee on ways to establish safer streets.
“We’re assisting by looking at what the data is showing,” Pyritz said. “By understanding the why, it’s easier for the city and us to evaluate what options will eliminate or reduce that behavior.”
Until then, people like Nsoroma and Newborn will have to take safety into their own hands. The two men say they’ll often take side streets and other quieter roads for their safety, even at the expense of longer, more difficult rides.
The Milwaukee Common Council recently passed a resolution allowing $3.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to go toward curbing reckless driving through design. The Department of Public Works (DPW) says it has several projects it will start next year with the money, including pinned-on curb extensions on 27th Street between Atkinson Avenue and Center Street; which will impact cars approaching this problem intersection.