South Shore Breakwater Project Could Finish in 2025

Breakwater repair at South Shore Park. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee County Parks plans to finish the $26.4 million rehabilitation of the South Shore breakwater next year.

The project is rebuilding a section of the breakwater protecting South Shore Park, Cupertino Park, a section of Oak Leaf Bike Trail and the South Shore Yacht Club from the lakes waves and powerful storm surges.

In 2020, the breakwater was damaged by severe winter storms that would later be declared a natural disaster by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The structure is made of large rocks piled up to form a sea wall. Even before the storms in 2020, the rocks were undersized for the lake’s waves, which have beaten down and shifted the stones to create gaps in the wall, according to Parks.

The damaged breakwater was leaving the yacht club’s docks and boat slips exposed to storm surges, with waves topping the rockpiles and slamming into their moorings. Parks had to alter its lease agreement with the club to account for lost revenue as boaters stopped using their slips.

There were seven gaps, and in 2023 parks made emergency repairs closing the gaps. Beginning in 2024, Parks contracted with Great Lakes Docks & Materials to reconstruct sections of the northern breakwater, regrading the existing wall of rocks and piling new rocks on top, in some cases even reusing some of the old rocks. Once finished, the breakwater will rise 15 feet above the waterline, whereas it tops out now at seven feet above the water, according to Parks.  Engineers determined this height was the minimum needed for long-term protection of the county’s coastal assets and the yacht club.

Next year, parks will continue reconstructing the break wall, provided the Milwaukee County Board approves the funding. County Executive David Crowley included approximately $3.87 million in his 2025 recommended budget to finish the project. If approved by the board, the total appropriations for the project will be $26.4 million.

The county has a backlog of infrastructure and maintenance needs estimated at approximately $1 billion. Half of that is in the parks system. The department has struggled for years against the massive list of infrastructure needs. During the past year, it took a small bite out of the backlog when it announced plans to remove or demolish a number of vacant, unused and dilapidated assets ranging from swimming pools to tennis courts.

The breakwater project underscores how expensive it is to maintain the system, which is filled with critical infrastructure like sea walls and bridges that don’t directly support recreation.

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