Should Road Through Lake Park Be Pedestrianized?
A survey of nearby residents found great support for a pedestrian and bicycle-only Ravine Road.
Ravine Road in 2016. Photo by Dave Reid.
The idea of closing off streets to automobile traffic is one that’s growing in popularity in Milwaukee.
The Brady Street Business Improvement District is studying blocking off two blocks for pedestrians only. And in 2022, the Milwaukee Common Council approved turning one block of E. Ivanhoe Pl. into a pedestrian plaza.
Recently, Milwaukee County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman released the results from a survey based on responses from 400 constituents showing support for the pedestrianization of Ravine Road running through Lake Park.
The county closed Ravine Road to all traffic in 2014 because of structural concerns for the historic Ravine Road Bridge that crosses it. In 2016, the bridge was also closed. It reopened in 2022 following repairs.
When Wasserman released his end-of-year constituent survey in 2022, he included the question, “What should happen with the road running through Lake Park and under the Ravine Bridge?” Respondents could choose between full pedestrianization of the road, a “hybrid option” for vehicles and pedestrians, or just vehicles.
The response was overwhelmingly in support of some type of pedestrianization, with approximately 80% in favor. And a majority of respondents (60.5%) said they favored strict pedestrian and bicycle access only.
The survey also asked constituents their opinion on seasonal pedestrianization, with “the road being open to all traffic in the spring and fall, and open to just pedestrians/bicyclists in the summer and winter?” The majority of respondents, approximately 56%, opposed a seasonal plan.
The parkway runs from the eastern end of E. Newberry Blvd., at the entrance to the park, downhill to N. Lincoln Memorial Dr. As the crow flies, the meandering roadway is approximately 1,000 feet long.
Parkways are obvious candidates for pedestrianization projects. They are not often used as major throughways for traffic, nor would their closure in most cases impede vehicle access to local businesses. Parkways can, in fact, be redundant roadways, meaning their closure does not impact traffic on the street grid in any way. Some parkways have also been the site of frequent reckless driving and illegal dumping.
Milwaukee County Parks has experience turning roadways into pedestrian-only paths. In the past, it’s done this temporarily and with minimal expense using jersey barriers and signs to block them off. It’s also rebuilt parkways as pedestrian and bicycle paths. In 2022, the department secured funding to convert just over a mile of roadway on the Lincoln Creek and Little Menomonee parkways into bicycle and pedestrian paths.
Parks officials explained at the time that conversion of a roadway to a path represented an upfront cost, but also significant savings in the future. Roadways are significantly more expensive to rebuild and maintain than bicycle and pedestrian paths, James Tarantino, deputy director of parks, told supervisors.
In 2019, the department considered options for converting Ravine Road. At the time, the department was planning to include any improvements or conversion of the road in funding requests for 2027.
At the time, the department reviewed five options for the roadway, ranging in cost from $193,000 to $1.3 million. These included rebuilding the roadway as is, converting it to a path, as a road with a path behind a barrier, as a road with a separated path, or removing all the pavement and restoring the vegetation.
The most expensive options involved retaining the roadway for vehicles and building separated or protected bicycle and pedestrian paths. The cost to turn the road into a path was estimated at approximately $515,000.
The department also provided estimates for gate arms ($15,000 each) and removable bollards ($800 each) that would allow intermittent closure to vehicles.
Pedestrianizing Ravine Road wouldn’t be a project without opposition. The local friends group responded to parks’ 2019 Ravine Road alternatives with an online petition calling for maintaining the roadway as a “pleasure drive.”
The board of directors of Lake Park Friends also passed a resolution that year, Milwaukee Record reported, stating that Lake Park landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed the roadways for “pleasure driving.”
Lake Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but as Urban Milwaukee has reported, this designation does not give the state historic preservation office a say on changes in the park. Though, its location within the City of Milwaukee’s North Point Historic District did give the city’s Historic Preservation Commission approval over design details for the Ravine Road Bridge repairs.
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We need Ravine Road to be re-opened to cars. As it was for years.
There are far too few access roads from “up above” to Lincoln Memorial Drive.
East Lafayette Hill Road is clogged daily. The reconfigured (St. Mary’s Hill) — E. Water Tower Road — is a dangerous hairpin curve.
Of course homeowners in the neighborhood want to keep out traffic. But let’s remember, the lakefront belongs to everyone.
This is a heritage park and the user experience should not have to be compromised by having to deal with traffic that is often in a rush and inattentive, like many urban drivers, in getting down to Lincoln Memorial Drive.
How many lake access foot paths are already in Lake Park? 8, 9? Zero vehicular roads currently open. It was designed for vehicular traffic. It operated, safely, for decades as such. The alternatives are solutions searching for a problem that has never existed.
How about a compromise from somebody who doesn’t like closing roads but does like to see maximum safety, benefit, and usability of pedestrian sidewalks and paths?
When opened to traffic, Ravine Road provides an early opt-out of,
or detour around heavy Lakefront user traffic.
It provides closer/alternate access for police, fire and rescue.,
Same applies not just for users, but park employees,
service contractors, suppliers, vendors, exhibitors,
performers (and tired dogs too big to carry).
It’s been years since I was down there, but I remember that sightlines
around curves weren’t adequate for pedestrian or traffic safety.
How about allowing traffic, and providing safely engineered
sidewalks (on both sides of the road – don’t let a mudslide,
fallen tree or accident show the world our Milwaukee Cheap)?
The net enjoyment and utilization of the park, a public good, will be maximized the more welcoming it is to walkers, cyclists, and other non-motorists. It should be more than just a shortcut.
Kate says the other road is “clogged” and “dangerous”
JMcD says there are “zero access roads”
Marty wants a “detour” or “opt-out” of waiting
Everyone should read: https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/31/23579510/car-brain-motornormativity-study-ian-walker
We have foot paths from the park to the lake front, what we don’t have is what was designed- vehicle access from the park to the lake front.
If someone is concerned about something (speeding, etc) – then enforce the laws of our city (for once).
The solution to all our problems is not punishing the law abiding.
The overwhelming majority of the community has been quite clear that Ravine Road should not be re-opened to car traffic.
Cars can travel East Lafayette or Water Tower or continue on Lincoln Memorial to Kenwood/Lake Drive to reach their destinations. If those outlets are crowded or forces cars to slow down that is for the good.
There have been many changes to Lake Park over the decades that it has been in existence. There seems to be no movement to return the park to its original state nor should there be. Times change.
The parks department cannot afford the cost of re-opening Ravine Road to cars (from Sheldon Washerman’s office):
Thank you for contacting my office with this question. You’re correct, the Parks Department Executive Director gave a presentation to the Parks Committee in 2019 regarding ongoing work to reopen or convert Ravine Road.
Cost assessments were provided at the time for a number of different options being considered for Ravine Road (figures are not inflation adjusted):
In-kind road replacement – $1,040,000
Convert roadway to path – $515,000
One-way road with a bike/pedestrian path separated by barrier – $1,382,000
One-way road with a bike/pedestrian path separated by curb/vegetation clearing – $1,387,000
Close roadway, remove pavement, and restore native vegetation – $193,000
Yes, it should be pedestrianized.
The ecosystem of benefits and pleasures provided to the public works
better with a smooth running infrastructure. Giving up-down traffic more
dispersion options helps that infrastructure run cleaner and better.
Remember that stalled or start-stop traffic generates
more pollution than smoothly moving traffic.
The ravine itself discourages casual north-south foot traffic.
The reopened bridge gives level connection over traffic to walkways on both sides.
If another popular path exists or would be desired west of that bridge,
another could be built in a horizontal U-shape bent eastward.
This would provide level connection versus stairs to connect the path
to a bridge. This would also treat users to a tree-crown level view
of that area as well as the distance view above the road.
Cool, eh?
The dollar amounts given are prices, not costs.
Costs are determined by running price(s) and other factors
through existing and/or desired scenarios.
Afterward, cost(s) must be weighed against the benefits.
How does one choice affect other costs and benefits
outside the location and functions under consideration?
It’s all connected.
What will this do to traffic management time and cost?
In emergencies, how are outcomes affected
by present and planned access?
How much time and effort will people spend
getting to food vendors, events, etc.?
How attractive and pleasant will the public find the park
given the “package” they will be offered?
One of the important categories in selecting
“the most livable cities” is absence of friction.
How much time, effort, planning and money does
it take to do what you want, or get what you need?
The above comment that “the overwhelming majority of the community” comment needs some context. The immediate neighbors don’t, for the most part, want the road reopened to cars. I would suggest that this is simply a self-serving, local NIMBY constituency. This is a county park. Does the county as a whole feel that way? I am skeptical they do.
What problems with Ravine Road were documented previously?
My guess is the problems weren’t important enough to warrant any community engagement – and therefore this latest desire to change plans is opportunistic.
And to counter the statement the parks doesn’t have the money – a little more than 6 months ago the road was advertised to be reopening in the fall of 2022. Matter of fact, Milwaukee County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman promised a “big opening ceremony” (so money for the road and a party to celebrate it’s reopening).
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2022/04/22/milwaukees-long-closed-lake-park-footbridge-reopen-fall/7337744001/
Lastly, we didn’t need a bridge if we weren’t going to maintain Ravine Road.
To dmkrueger2: The road did not re-open in Fall 2022 (nor was it scheduled to do so; bridge and road two separate projects). The bridge re-opened with the “big opening ceremony”.
The bridge was a different project with different issues including style & function. An anonymous person offered the county $1,000,000 towards the rebuilding of the bridge with the stipulation that the County not re-open the road to auto traffic. The County turned down the offer.