County Holding Public Meeting on 30th Street Rail-Trail

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

A much-anticipated rail-to-trail project is getting a public meeting on Feb. 24.

The Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is holding a public meeting to raise awareness and share details about a feasibility study considering a potential mixed-use trail running through the 30th Street Corridor.

Local policymakers have viewed the corridor as a logical place for multimodal infrastructure for decades. The roughly seven-mile corridor extends from W. Wisconsin Avenue north to Havenwoods State Park. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has included it in the long-term plans for the 700-mile Route of the Badger trail network.

It remains an active rail corridor, containing a segment of the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad owned by parent company Watco. The county intends to work with Watco to maintain rail operations alongside any future trail.

Much of the corridor runs above or below grade, providing a unique opportunity to separate bicyclists and pedestrians from the street grid and automobile traffic, said Daniel Park, an MCDOT transportation planner, during a meeting of the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Transportation and Transit in January.

Using a $700,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), MCDOT contracted with SmithGroup in 2025 to work ona feasibility study. The firm is collecting public input and developing a set of trail options, including potential alternatives outside the corridor.

The first in-person opportunity for the community to get involved in the project will be the meeting on Feb. 24 at The Community Within the Corridor, 3100 W. Center St.

But MCDOT has also created a trail survey and an interactive map, which allow local residents to identify sections of the corridor they are most interested in using. The department is also planning to form a public advisory committee with members representing area nonprofits and nearby communities.

A future trail in the corridor would provide connections to the Hank Aaron State Trail and the county’s Oak Leaf Trail network. But it’s only an idea at this point.

The county will need to secure trail access from the railroad, which has previously stated it is not interested in selling any portion of the 100-foot-wide railroad corridor.

The study is expected to be completed by June 2027.