New Front Door for Lakefront
Dramatic plan moves freeway ramps and creates a grand boulevard that connects downtown and the lakefront.
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Dramatic plan moves freeway ramps and creates a grand boulevard that connects downtown and the lakefront. Back to the full article.
Love the concept for the Lakefront. This may be the most desirable commercial location in Wisconsin. The rents in this area are going to be astronomical for Milwaukee standards. The county and city governments have to be smart about maximizing the use of this small but extremely valuable property. Tom Barrett should not insist on any one of his pet projects here, unless it’s asked for. The less Tom Barrett gets to decide about this the better…this guy should be managing a Chili’s.
Amazing. I can’t believe this is actually coming together and the politics actually seem to agree.
It’s not as great as the original (as you point out), but man, this is a very good start. Let’s get it rolling before someone screws it up.
Hey, this is pretty exciting! Maybe not perfect, but it shows a vision that’s been sadly lacking in Milwaukee for many years. Our lakefront is a jewel we need to cultivate and promote within the context of establishing Milwaukee as a forward-thinking city in the region and in the nation. Glad to see this will go ahead.
Jon Richards reminded me yesterday that this great project grew out of an idea floated by Sue Black. Let’s give some credit.
While Sue Black was certainly instrumental, the idea originated (in written form) in the City’s 2010 Downtown Plan first. You could go further back and credit John Norquist and company for proposing to tear down 794 and convert it to a boulevard east of the river as the inspiration for the idea.
A few critiques. The intersection at St. Paul & Lincoln Memorial should be looked at as a roundabout. Keep the pedestrian crossings at Clybourn where it is more useful and at the bridge. This design makes pedestrian crossings at St. Paul redundant.
The plan should also re-look at the intersections at Harbor Drive and St. Paul. That is a tangled mess of an intersection that is not efficient or friendly to bikes and peds. The bike/ped path suddenly merges into the Discovery World garage driveway. Kind of a sloppy, afterthought of a design.
@Yance, St. Paul? I’m not following?
Sorry, Michigan Street.
Id like to ride the streetcar to and from these new points of interest as well as the new bridge to the South side (where I live) – Im proud that there are collaborative efforts with these needed growth changes to our Lakefront and our beautiful city of Milwaukee.
This whole project is a win win for everyone, and there are several names that should share the credit in trying to grow this city. I agree that mayor Barrette needs to retire; hopefully a true leader will step up and help this city not to become a Cleveland and Detroit. New friends from Cleveland moved here recently and they have assured us that DT Milw. is like nite and day from DT Cleveland, when after working hours, that area dies. No one lives there, so they say. The point is we still have the ability to avoid all their pitfalls. Imagine the 30 story NWM Bldg. becoming 40-50 stories by design, which is still a possibility, thanks to the State giving them a larger Tax incentive should thy opt to build something over 1 million Sq. Ft ! Wow, that would be Super !
The Gateway project seems like a sad Hail Mary to me. Why would Milwaukee allow a roadway plan that would encourage more thru traffic on Lincoln Memorial Drive and the Lakefront. Does the travel demand model indicate that this new roadway will have traffic volumes and speeds like those on North Water Street at St. Paul or more like those on Bluemound Road at Moorland? Increasing the amount office space, the length of the crosswalks and the amount of thru traffic is not a sound way to attract non-work related activity to this area.