Construction of Road-to-Trail Projects Planned for 2024

Closure of Lincoln Creek Parkway for Active Streets program. File photo by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Parks is planning to convert two roadways into pedestrian and bicycle trails in 2024 and will hold public meetings on the projects next week. It’s part of an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving strategy.

The department received funding in 2022 for the conversions, which include a 0.3-mile segment along the Lincoln Creek Parkway and a 0.8-mile segment of the Little Menomonee River Parkway. Construction could begin in early 2024 and be completed by the end of the year.

The Little Menomonee segment is between W. Fond du Lac Avenue and W. Appleton Avenue and largely runs through a forested area west of the river. The Lincoln Creek Parkway segment, between N. 23rd and N. 27th streets, runs closer to a residential neighborhood, and some neighbors have objected to the project.

Both segments of roadway do not intersect with any cross streets, nor do they provide driveway access. Parks considers the segments redundant roadways because they do not provide unique connections to the larger street network. The department also considers both parkways to be connections to the Oak Leaf Trail network.

The department is holding two neighborhood meetings for the project next week. The first is for the Little Menomonee Project and will take place Monday, Nov. 13 at Maple Tree Elementary School. The second, for the Lincoln Creek project, will be held Tuesday at the Lincoln Park Blatz Pavilion.

In June, Parks conducted neighborhood outreach for the Lincoln Creek project and found a majority of neighbors were supportive or neutral about the road closure.

“Of the 148 homes visited, staff had conversations with 66 (44.5%) people,” according to the department. “Of those 66 people, 46 people expressed positive sentiment towards the project, 17 were neutral or didn’t care, and 3 were opposed to the project.”

The outreach effort was made in advance of a trial closure of the street segments this past summer. The roads were blocked to motor vehicles using concrete jersey barriers. The department hoped the temporary approach would build support for the permanent conversions.

One resident who lives near the Little Menomonee segment said they “never walked through this portion of the park before it was blocked off from vehicles, didn’t feel safe with the speeding there. I have since used this area many times and find it very peaceful.”

However, some residents have registered opposition to the projects. Comments provided to the department online also reflect that some, though not a majority, of nearby residents object to the project. Both supporters and opponents of the project have expressed a wish for more robust public outreach.

Residents said they failed to see how closing the roads to vehicle traffic would address problems related to crime and illegal dumping. When Parks first pitched the County Board on the project, they noted that limiting vehicle access to this area — particularly along the Little Menomonee River — would make it less appealing location for illegal dumping.

The opposition registered to these projects paled in comparison to the resistance mounted by residents living near a segment of Jackson Park Drive, which Parks has also proposed to convert to trailway.

Long term, Parks is attempting to reduce the amount of pavement and automobile infrastructure it must maintain. The department is currently responsible for more than 60 miles of roadway.

Trails are much cheaper to maintain than roads, and Parks has estimated that the two conversion projects slated for 2024 will save the department $12,000 annually in maintenance costs. The department has already converted roadway into trails in Greenfield Park and along Underwood Creek Parkway.

“Over half of our capital requests are for parking lots and roads,” Deputy Director Jim Tarantino previously said. “And this is not something that really, really impacts recreation or health outcomes for our citizens.”

Public Meetings

Little Menomonee River Parkway

• Monday, Nov. 13
• 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Maple Tree Elementary School, 6644 N. 107th St.

Lincoln Creek Parkway

• Tuesday, Nov. 14
• 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Lincoln Park Blatz Pavilion, 1301 W. Hampton Ave.