Controversial Jackson Park Drive Construction Scheduled for July

Jackson Park Roadway. Photo by Milwaukee County Parks.

A once-controversial roadway project will get underway in the Jackson Park neighborhood this year.

Milwaukee County Parks is planning to begin construction on a section of N. Jackson Park Drive in July. The roadway, which has not been repaved in more than 40 years, will be rebuilt between S. 47th and S. 58th streets. The section between S. 51st and S. 53rd streets will be converted to a trail.

Originally, Parks planned to convert all of the roadway to a trail, which proved to be a controversial idea. The roadway runs along the northern boundary of the Jackson Park neighborhood, separating the homes from the wooded parkway. It is considered a redundant right-of-way, as it doesn’t provide access to anything that can’t be reached from another road. Every home along the roadway has vehicle access on the other side of the block.

When neighbors heard the roadway would be replaced with a trail, they put pressure on their supervisors to scuttle the project. They expressed concern that the bicycle and pedestrian trail would bring crime to the neighborhood, lower their property values or cause park patrons to mistake their yards for parkland.

Area representatives on the county board, Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez and then-Supervisor Peter Burgelis, opposed the project, leading to a compromise plan that rebuilds the roadway with a small section of trail built in the middle. The project’s budget is $1.8 million, $300,000 above the trail plan.

Initially, Parks planned to rebuild the roadway in 2025, but the project was put on hold when Parks staffers noticed concerning erosion along the streambank between the roadway and the river. Construction could not proceed until the streambank was reinforced, so the department expanded the scope of the roadway project to include the streambank reinforcement.

Parks recently put the project out to bid and is planning to start construction in July.

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