You Can Help Plan Trails in Milwaukee

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.