New Dairy Queen coming to Milton Avenue

In a formality Monday, the Janesville City Council OK’d a certified survey map, a move which would help cement a plan by Steve Schultz of Kinzie Street Limited Partnership to build the new Dairy Queen at 1818 Milton Ave.

It would sit at the intersection of Milton Avenue, Kennedy Road and Randolph Road — a wedge-shaped out lot that’s long been marketed for sale or lease, but for years has been used by locals mainly as ancillary parking for the post office.

Officials say the DQ would have inside seating. A DQ Grill and Chill for years has operated on Janesville’s West Court Street on the city’s west side. A Dairy Queen Treat shop on Racine Street on the east side shows show on a web search as being “temporarily closed.”

The Dairy Queen plan already gained approval for conditional use by the city’s plan commission on June 19. On Monday, the council briefly discussed traffic in and around the proposed site, which is one of the heaviest traveled sections of Milton Avenue, according to traffic counts.

Wisconsin Department of Transportation traffic counts show that Milton Avenue at the intersection of Kennedy and Randolph roads, near where one entry would be, sees about 25,000 vehicles a day.

Kennedy and Randolph Roads, and Randall Avenue, an adjacent side street that runs parallel to Milton Avenue, collectively see another 15,500 vehicles. Along the same spur are a furniture store, a CVS pharmacy, a Walgreen’s pharmacy store and Big Lots outlet store.

In a brief discussion on traffic safety said Monday night, city council and plan commission member Paul Williams said city traffic reviews of the surrounding streets show that two entries proposed along Milton Avenue and Randolph Road would allow for safe traffic flow in and out of the planned Dairy Queen.

The survey map the council OK’d Monday shows traffic entering from both streets would be controlled through a one-way drive-thru loop, and the parking lot and drive-thru area would have signals warning motorists coming off Milton Avenue to slow down and watch for vehicles in the adjacent parking areas.

Williams said the city traffic surveyors have indicated traffic flow at the future restaurant “shouldn’t be backing up onto Randolph or backing up onto Milton Avenue.”

Williams said he’d also wondered whether the area would get congested during the holiday season, when the post office tends to see heavy volume.

“The rush time at (the post office) at Christmastime is going to also be the slow time at Dairy Queen,” he said.

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