Roundabout proposed for area near Packerland Drive and Mason Street

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Some neighbors who live around Packerland Drive and W. Mason Street are applauding new efforts to make it safer.

Brown County Highway officials describe that intersection as one of the most dangerous in Green Bay.

Tuesday afternoon, plans for a proposed roundabout were announced at a presentation.

“We need to improve the safety out there. That’s number one. But at the same time, right behind that, we want to provide safe access to those businesses. You know, we’re all in this together. We don’t want to see any businesses suffer or get hurt. But yet at the same time, there’s got to be a way - hopefully - to balance all of this,” Brown County Highway Commissioner Paul Fontecchio said.

During the past two and a half years, officials say there have been 31 injury crashes at Packerland and Mason. Out of those, six crashes and seven injuries have happened there from July 1, 2021 until October 26, 2021.

“You know if you’re a pedestrian here, you got to be kind of suicidal to try and get across right now,” Fontecchio said.

County officials say one of the reasons why this is one of the most dangerous intersections in the city of Green Bay is because of the frontage road being so close to West Mason. That prevented the construction of a roundabout, and instead building it along Trojan Drive.

“That way, if you’re coming from McDonald’s or Hardee’s or that direction, you can take that right and you can go down to the roundabout and you can get around a little easier,” Fontecchio said.

The project is expected to cost $2 million.

Several people at the event praised the project, while also calling on more to be done for pedestrians.

“I can speak on behalf of Fritsch neighborhood, my compliments on what you guys did on this thing, cause this is not what I expected to hear,” Randy Griswold, President of the Fritsch Neighborhood Association, said.

“We need to make sure that people can drive through them safely, but they can also walk through them and bike through them safely,” Peter Flucke of the Brown County Traffic Safety Committee said.

Officials hope to start construction on the roundabout in 2023.

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