You Can Help Plan Trails in Milwaukee
Parks department seeks robust public input as it plans major expansion of biking-walking trails.
Oak Leaf Trail sign on Menomonee River Parkway. Photo by Graham Kilmer.
Milwaukee County Parks is planning an ambitious expansion of the trail system and it wants the public’s help.
The department is seeking public input on trails in general and a number of specific projects and “encouraging active feedback and participation from the local community in the planning and development process to ensure that any proposed expansions meet the needs and desires of trail users,” according to a statement from the department.
In June, parks announced its plan to add 10 miles of trail over the next two years, which would amount to an explosive rate of growth for the local trail network. The county has expanded the trail network at a rate of 1.5 miles of trail a year since 2007 when the first trails plan was adopted. The county’s trail network, called the Oak Leaf Trail, currently includes more than 135 miles of bicycle and pedestrian trails.
The department has six trail projects which will total six miles of new trail already in various stages of development. It will need to develop an additional four miles of trail — yet to be determined — to meet its goal.
The existing trail projects include road-to-trail conversion of the Lincoln Creek Parkway and Little Menomonee River Parkway; a redesign and partial conversion of the Underwood Creek and Kinnickinnic River Parkways; and extensions of the Oak Leaf Trail in Kohl Park and Bender Park.
The parks department has created a webpage allowing local residents to provide comments on the department trail initiative, as well as feedback on the existing trail projects.
“We know that vibrant, clean outdoor trails are good for our public health, our local economy, our environment, and the safety of our neighborhoods,” County Executive David Crowley said in a statement. “That’s why Milwaukee County is working to transform many of our aging roadways into outdoor trails and greenspaces, as this saves the County taxpayer dollars and delivers significant benefits to our community.”
The trail campaign was created to increase public awareness for the county’s trail system and engage local residents in planning and expanding the network.
Parks is also in the middle of creating a new countywide trail plan, incorporating the work done on both the trail campaign and the Northwest Side Trail Connections Plan, which Parks completed in 2023.
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I think that trail expansion to go with the current trails would be welcome by users. When I ride the trails, I have found increased usage with higher density in areas close to downtown. Many electric bike users seem to think that they have to travel at 20 mph. Some are the size and weight of small motorcycles and would seriously injure anyone they might hit. Too many riders ignore the basic safety guide lines of riding to the right and letting persons know you are passing. The trail use has changed radically since the County starting developing them in 1966. The County needs to get representatives of stakeholders-cycling clubs, Milwaukee based bike shops, interested elected officials-to regularly get feedback on the riding conditions on the trails and what changes might be needed so that everyone has a good experience. I have not seen any move from Park officials to do something like this.
@Mingus – Amen! We are truly taking our lives in our hands when we attempt to use the trails around Milwaukee.
I’ve experienced people going well over 20 mph and then they get angry when you are in their way. Also, the “high end” bikers going crazy fast and zipping between people going in opposite directions, and per Mingus, no notification that they are there and not letting folks know they are passing. They don’t seem to realize who actually has the right of way.
It has gotten crazy out there.
Periodic signage to audibly signal intentions to “passing on left,” must be posed on all trails.
But with forecasts of diminished budgets & shortfalls in 2025 and deferred maintenance on all County Parks and County Park Community and Senior Centers, how can new projects be advertised, and where will the money come from, and who reallocates funding for all the needed projects?