The proposed improvement of S. 2nd Street, in Walker’s Point, was up for approval at the December 22nd meeting of the Milwaukee Common Council. The improvement would involve a complete street reconstruction, narrowing the street to 50 feet from 58 feet, reducing the street to one travel lane in each direction, widened sidewalks, bike lanes, street trees, improved lighting, and other amenities designed to make the street more appeal to pedestrians.

For over a year business owners, property owners, and residents in Walker’s Point have worked to have S. 2nd Street rebuilt with people in mind. The plan, as UrbanMilwaukee.com has covered in past, includes narrowing the street from 58 feet to 50 feet, removing travel lanes, and adding bike lanes, street trees, and new lighting with the goal of creating a street conducive to multiple modes of transportation, be it walking, biking, or driving.

“The right of way doesn’t just belong to cars,” he said. “It belongs to pedestrians and bicyclists as well.”

– U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood

This past Friday a public meeting was held to discuss the reconstruction of S. 2nd Street in Walker’s Point from National Ave. north to the train tracks. As had been proposed here at UrbanMilwaukee.com, and more importantly fought for by business owners in Walker’s Point, the reconstruction will now include many features of a complete street.

The June 24th, 2009 Public Works Committee Meeting was a good day for the efforts to rebuild S. 2nd street as a complete street. The Department of Public Works presented three options as possibilities for the rebuilding of S. 2nd Street. The first option was to simply resurface the street, with essentially no pedestrian improvements. The second option would resurface the street at the same width, but would included painted bike lanes, reduced travels lanes, and street trees. However it is the third option that is closest to a complete street.

Unfortunately, S. 2nd Street has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently. Despite the shameful shooting of two police officers by an unstable person, S. 2nd Street is still an up-and-coming district. Hopefully this past weekend’s Thank You Milwaukee Police Department festival will was the start of the healing within the Milwaukee Police Department and the neighborhood.

Recently, with the encouragement and support of our readers, the help of graphic artist Kieran Sweeney, and the drive of Juli Kaufmann a conceptual idea for the redevelopment of S. 2nd Street, in Walker’s Point, was created and entered in to GOOD Magazine’s livable streets contest. Although it didn’t win, it did come in a strong second, validating the importance of a complete street redesign for S. 2nd Street.

S. 2nd St., in Walker’s Point, is another street in Milwaukee that is more than ready to go on a diet. In fact there is an effort by a group of local business and property owners to have S. 2nd Street in Walker’s Point rebuilt as a transformative catalyst to build momentum in an area of Milwaukee where the disparity between potential and reality is vast.