Who Wants To Run Active Streets Program?

The City of Milwaukee is looking to bring back its Active Streets program in 2021.

Introduced in May as a pandemic alleviation effort, the program closed streets to through traffic with barrier signs to create more space for pedestrians, bicyclists and other recreational users of city streets.

“We are trying to be creative and give people more outlets,” said Mayor Tom Barrett on May 8th.

A survey found that 72% of respondents favored bringing back the program.

A network of volunteers, project partners, city employees and Milwaukee County Parks workers monitored conditions on the different streets that were part of the program.

But the framework for 2021 will be different.

The Department of Public Works is proposing to pay organizations to do the work and choose the locations.

A request for proposals is open for organizations to propose a location and receive up to $5,000 to monitor, program, conduct outreach and provide feedback.

The city would provide the barriers and signage as well as support for limited mailings.

Responses to the RFP are due March 12th by 5:00 p.m.

Winning organizations could see their designated streets receive semi-permanent infrastructure such as rubber speed humps and speed tables as part of a phase-two effort. A phase-three effort, which would come after multiple years of a trial, would involve permanent barriers.

A proposal to extend a similarly named but separate program, Active Streets for Business, is now before the Common Council. That program repurposes parking and travel lanes into space for outdoor dining for bars and restaurants.

2020 Photos