[All photos by Maria Powell, September 19, 2022]
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Madison’s infamous “hairball” Nolen-Wilson-Willy St intersection was built over an old city landfill, created from the 1930s to the 1950s along the Lake Monona shoreline from Blair Street to Broom Street to “make land” for Law Park and eventually Monona Terrace.
Now, as the WisDOT rebuilds the intersection, contractors are digging through the top of the old landfill, just west of Machinery Row (only feet from Lake Monona). Men working there told me they’ve encountered a variety of different kinds of garbage and debris.
Very dark areas are visible in soil layers, and in materials being excavated at the construction site–these are very likely MGE coal ash (which includes cinders, fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag) that was used as daily cover on the landfill.
Not surprisingly, according to this 2020 WisDOT report by TRC consultants, soils and groundwater there are very contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metals (see previous post for more info). Right now contractors are digging up one of the most contaminated areas (GP-1 on this map). The soils are being hauled by dump truck to Madison Prairie landfill, which accepts hazardous waste.
Here’s what it looks like…
Left-biker rides past excavation; Right-dark soils and soil layers
Below left-clunky dark, discolored debris (top layer of landfill); Right-excavator digs into dark “soils
Bottom left-storm drain; Right- excavated soils dumped into truck to haul to Madison Prairie Landfill
Bottom left-layers of clunky fill and dark soil; Right-old pipes and other construction debris
Below: staging area across bike path from excavation? Lake Monona right behind it…
