30th Street Corridor Trail Study Begins in May

The 30th Street corridor, looking north from the W. North Avenue bridge. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A feasibility study to design a multi-use trail in the 30th Street Industrial Corridor begins in May.

Milwaukee County awarded a contract to architecture and engineering firm SmithGroup in April.

The firm will study how the county could develop a 6.7-mile-long multi-use trail along the 30th Street corridor rail line or a similar trail along nearby city streets. The study will move the project from a concept to a design that can be implemented.

The Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is working with Milwaukee County Parks to facilitate the study. A federally-funded $700,000 Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant awarded to Parks by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will provide the funding for the multi-year study. The study process is expected to take between 18 and 24 months.

The 30th Street corridor trail project was originally championed by City of Milwaukee officials. The study area runs from roughly W. Wisconsin Avenue north to W. Hampton Avenue.

Alderman Robert Bauman and City Attorney Evan Goyke, who championed the project as a state representative, have long envisioned using the corridor for multi-modal transportation. For more than two decades, Bauman has observed that the corridor is ripe for development, including the continued operation of freight trains.

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has identified the corridoras the most important potential trail investment in the region to create more equitable trail access. The corridor, which bisects the middle of the city, is also included as a potential trail location in the 700-mile Route of the Badger plan.

The corridor offers the unique opportunity to develop a multi-use trail along a right-of-way that runs below the grade of nearby streets and, to the north, uses bridges to cross streets. The corridor — which is about 100 feet wide — would provide space for a trail that offers safe, efficient travel through neighborhoods with little trail infrastructure. It would also provide connections to the Hank Aaron State Trail and the county’s Oak Leaf Trail network.

It would be impossible to build this sort of infrastructure today, Goyke has said, “This legacy infrastructure built over 100 years ago is a gift if we repurpose it in ways to reflect the modern economy.”

But the railroads aren’t interested in selling the corridor, at least not yet. Wisconsin & Southern Railroad (WSOR) parent company Watco owns the majority of the line. Ken Lucht, Watco vice president, sent a letter to the Common Council in March, saying the firm “is not interested in selling any portion of this right of way for non-freight purposes and as such the corridor is not for sale.” Canadian Pacific Kansas City retains ownership of approximately one quarter of the railroad.

Goyke and Bauman were not surprised, or deterred, by the letter. The alderman said the project is still worth exploring, and the city attorney noted Watco’s vision for the corridor overlapped with the city’s.

The county, too, is moving ahead and plans to work with the railroad companies to “achieve shared objectives,” according to a report by MCDOT officials. The feasibility study will also work to collect input from nearby community organizations and leaders.

Photos and RFP Routing

2020 Study Images

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