35th Street Bus-Bike Lane Wins Federal Funding

Bike-Bus only lane in downtown Pittsburgh. (CC BY-SA 2.0) 

The Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) was awarded $400,000 in federal funding Thursday to take the first step in developing bike and bus-only travel lane along S. 35th Street.

The funding will support a feasibility study for a shared lane that would run approximately two miles north and south between W. Vliet Street and W. National Avenue connecting the north and south sides of the City of Milwaukee. These dedicated lanes are intended to provide for more efficient mass transit, with buses unimpeded by vehicle traffic, and safer multi-modal travel for bicyclists and pedestrians.

The 35th Street corridor is a four-lane road with much of the stretch between Vliet and National on a bridge spanning the Menomonee Valley. While the city controls the street, the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) operates two bus routes through the corridor: Route 30 and Route 35.

The county applied for $850,000 from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Areas of Persistent Poverty Program grant. The federal agency announced Thursday that it awarded the county $400,000 for the project. The grant program had $20 million to disperse for transit studies in “census-defined low-income areas,” according to the FTA. The grant comes with a $40,0000 (10%) required local funding match.

“Enhancing the safety of our roads for all who use them is one of the most important issues facing the health and well-being of our community. Receiving funding for this study is critical in assessing how we can improve road safety on an important traffic artery and improve connections throughout Milwaukee County,” County Executive David Crowley said in a statement after the awards were announced. “Thank you to all the changemakers at the Department of Transportation for dedication to securing this award. I am equally grateful for champions Senator Tammy Baldwin and Representative Gwen Moore for continuing to advocate for Milwaukee County at the federal level.”

Baldwin said she is “proud to support this critical investment and take the first step toward making a vital artery for Milwaukee County safer and more accessible for all travelers.” And Moore said: “One of the ways we can build equity is by creating safer roads for pedestrians and all commuters in Milwaukee and expanding access to different modes of transit.”

The county executive’s office noted that vehicle crash data from 2018 to 2022 shows there were six fatalities, 20 serious injuries and 114 minor injuries in this corridor.

“Enhanced multimodal access and traffic calming are critical needs on 35^th street,” said MCDOT Director Donna Brown-Martin. “Of the four total lanes of mixed traffic on most of this segment of roadway, there are no dedicated bus lanes, no protected bike lanes and only three-quarters of one mile of painted bike lanes. With motorist speeds often exceeding the posted speed limit along the corridor, the environment for multimodal users on this street is dangerous for all travelers.”

The 35th Street project will also act as a pilot for this type of transportation infrastructure across the county. It will be the first corridor with shared lanes designed specifically with buses and bicycles in mind. The new bus rapid transit service, Connect 1, employs dedicated bus lanes designed for buses only.

Previous studies have shown that traffic enforcement and maintaining low bus speeds are key to successful bike-bus lanes.

Urban Milwaukee first reported on the grant application in March.