2023 Milwaukee Budget Includes $500,000 Protected Bike Lane Fund

For the first time, the Department of Public Works would have a new funding allocation specifically for developing protected bicycle lanes.

The $500,000 special fund is part of Mayor Cavalier Johnson‘s 2023 budget proposal.

“It’s something we want to focus solely just on protected bike lanes,” said DPW Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke in presenting the department’s proposed budget to the council’s finance committee Wednesday morning.

Instead of painted (striped) lanes, protected lanes include some kind of physical divider. Using local examples, Kruschke said the final form of new lanes would range from what is seen Downtown on Kilbourn Avenue where the parking lane and bike lane are reversed and plastic delineators help create a barrier to the newly-built, fully-raised-and-separated lane on W. Becher St. in the Harbor District.

“We’re talking a couple of miles here,” said Kruschke of how much the fund could pay for in 2023.

He said the lanes would provide a benefit not just to cyclists, but also as part of an effort to reduce reckless driving and calm traffic.

But council members had plenty of questions, including asking where the new lanes would go.

Kruschke said there weren’t specific locations planned currently, but used his broader budget presentation to say DPW would increasingly focus on equity in deploying its resources. That includes targeting traffic safety projects on the city’s previously-identified pedestrian high-injury network of streets.

“Why aren’t we fixing what we have currently have versus creating a new program?” asked Alderman Michael Murphy, who said painted lanes were not being repainted as the paint wore off. The alderman, perhaps unintentionally, answered his own question. “I wouldn’t bike on city streets right now just because of reckless driving.”

Murphy asked for an estimate of the cost of building out a citywide network of protected lanes.

Kruschke said the city would likely initially explore lower-cost options like what was done to Kilbourn Avenue versus more expensive reconstruction efforts like Becher Street, where the bike lane is effectively a raised trail parallel to the roadway.

“The devil is in the details,” said Murphy. “Incrementally building out a protected bike lane in the city of Milwaukee, it will be longer than replacing the lead service lines.” The city is currently on a 60-to-70-year pace to replace the service lines.

Ald. Scott Spiker asked DPW to work with the area council representative to mitigate any potential conflicts with residences and businesses. Part of Spiker’s concern involves snow plowing, and how a protected bicycle lane in front of a driveway would impact plowing. Spiker said such issues exist in the consideration of a protected lane on Howard Avenue. “I know we’re thinking about this and it seems like the right thing to do,” he said.

“We have to start purchasing new equipment to address what you’re talking about,” said Kruschke, who noted the city is already looking to incrementally scale up its fleet. He acknowledged it might change the timing of a plow operation.

The Finance & Personnel Committee is reviewing the entire city budget currently and will consider amendments in advance of adopting the budget on Nov. 4.

A hybrid (virtual and in-person) public hearing on the city budget is scheduled for Oct. 14.

Protected bicycle lanes aren’t the only thing due for an upgrade in 2023.

The multi-modal transportation unit would receive $1.3 million in 2023 via borrowing to develop bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

The number of miles of painted bicycle lanes in the city continues to grow, largely through restriping streets and street reconstruction projects. According to the budget document, 16.7 miles were added in 2021, 18 miles are scheduled to be added in 2022 and 17.5 miles would be added in 2023.

The city is poised to allocate $1.9 million to sidewalk repair and replacement. The city would continue its near-zero pace of alley replacement. The 2023 budget includes $1.05 million for alley replacement, including $200,000 from adjoining property owners, and would cover the reconstruction of “10 to 12” alleys.

DPW is planning 51 high-impact paving projects in 2023, up from the 45 completed in 2022. The strategy involves replacing the top layer of a roadway to extend its life by approximately a decade. Through all of the city’s street reconstruction programs, a total of 24.6 miles of roadway are planned for an upgrade in 2023. That’s up from 16 miles in 2021 and a planned total of 20.2 miles in 2022. The total mileage varies based on the number of state and federally-backed reconstruction projects.

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Related Legislation: File 220001