Protected Bike Lane Will Run From Downtown To Sherman and Capitol

Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

In the coming years, bicyclists and scooter riders will have a 5.4-mile protected pathway from Downtown to the heart of the North Side.

The Department of Public Works recently won a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant to fill in a gap between two planned protected bike lane projects.

“We will build a whole corridor essentially from Water Street and Pleasant all the way to Sherman and Capitol,” said City Engineer Kevin Muhs to the Public Works Committee on June 20. “One connected corridor in the next few years.”

The $2.09 million CMAQ grant will fill a gap between two planned road projects. Design work is well underway to rebuild N. Sherman Boulevard between W. Capitol Drive and W. North Avenue. A second project will add a protected bike lane to W. Lisbon Avenue from N. 20th and N. 40th streets.

“This grant that we just received will extend south of North until Sherman meets Lisbon, and then also hook east on Lisbon up to 40th Street, which is where we have a 20th to 40th street project that has just started design,” said Muhs.

The protected lanes would include physical barriers to protect cyclists, creating safe routes for those of all ages and abilities.

To the east of 20th Street, just west of where Lisbon becomes Walnut Street, the city recently completed the full reconstruction of W. Walnut Street east to Interstate 43 that included a fully-separated, protected bike lane. Further east, a protected bike lane was added that continues east toward Schlitz Park as Walnut becomes Pleasant Street. Work on the Pleasant Street portion is nearly complete.

Much of the funding for the various projects comes from state-directed federal aid.

The city also secured a second $2 million CMAQ grant to build a protected bike lane that will connect more neighborhoods to the corridor.

A 1.9-mile protected lane would stretch from the irregular intersection of W. Locust Street, N. Teutonia Avenue. and W. Hopkins Street south to W. Center Street and then east to N. Humboldt Boulevard. The east-west route would connect the North Division, Harambee and Riverwest neighborhoods and feed into the Beerline Trail on the eastern end. The northwest edge would feed into a planned and funded 2.2-mile protected lane on W. Hopkins Street and be only a couple blocks from the Sherman Boulevard lane.

DPW secured approval to seek the grants in December.

“Design on those are still to come. That’s just the funding award,” said Muhs of the two CMAQ awards. The process, said Muhs, is expected to formally kick off next year.

“Very good,” said committee chair Alderman Robert Bauman.

The protected bike lane network is part of a 2023 pledge by Mayor Cavalier Johnson to have 50 miles of protected bike lanes constructed or in design by 2026. At the mayor’s annual bike ride earlier this month, Johnson said the city already has 42 miles of the work underway or planned.

As Urban Milwaukee has recently reported, the city is pursuing additional federal funding to build more lanes and planning to soon construct projects to link Bay View, Walker’s Point, the Harbor District and Downtown.

A map of the network of lanes is available on Google Maps.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article identified the Lisbon portion as a full reconstruction, it is a bike lane addition.