We need your help!

Back in April, we noted that there were finally No Parking signs at the dangerous entrance/exit of the KK River Trail on Maple Street.

Unfortunately, over the past several months, those signs have disappeared. The authors of this newsletter have had multiple close calls when drivers park in dangerous spots that both severely limit visibility for drivers and people on bikes, and who squeeze cyclists between fast-moving traffic and a parked car. Because the turn onto the trail is so sudden, drivers in parked cars may not even notice a cyclist, and may pull into them as cyclists turn onto the trail.

It’s great to build out new infrastructure, but the City needs to be improving its existing infrastructure too. The City has been extremely slow to respond to our requests for information about why this change has occurred. This week, new signs have appeared that are No Parking but only based on certain times of the day. We know that people bike outside of the 8 am - 6 pm, and it is a basic ask to prioritize one of the few safe routes in this area over a few parking spaces.

Our ask: please email your support for a 24 hour No Parking Tow Away zone outside of the KKRT entrance to Council President Pérez (jperez@milwaukee.gov), who is a wonderful supporter of biking and needs to hear from you, so that the businesses are not the loudest voices in the room. Please be kind, and if you have personal stories, please share with him.

Upcoming Events

Growing MKE Open Houses

Growing MKE is a citywide planning effort that will set a framework for housing growth and choice in Milwaukee. The project will result in a proposed amendment to the Citywide Policy Plan and updates to the City’s Zoning Code. The City is holding  open houses and informational meetings now that the draft recommendations have been published.

Wednesday, December 6th, 2023 - Virtual Informational Meeting
12-1pm
Virtual
Register here

Thursday, December 7th, 2023
2:30-5:30pm
Bay View Library
2566 S Kinnickinnic Ave

Saturday, December 9th, 2023
10am-1pm
Villard Square Library
5190 N 35th St

Monday, December 11th, 2023
3-6pm
Capitol Branch Library
3969 N 74th St

Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee

Meetings are open to the public and held on the third Friday of the month. You can sign up for updates on meetings and agendas via e-Notify.

Friday, December 15th, 2023
8:30 to 10 am
Hybrid
Zeidler Municipal Building, 5th floor
Virtual Meeting link
Transit: 15, 18, 57, GRE
3 blocks or less from the 14, 19, 30, 33, and CN1.
Bublr station on Van Buren St. near Wells St.

☃️ Better Streets MKE event: Holiday Family Bike Ride 🎄

Join Better Streets MKE & friends at a family bike ride to see downtown light displays and share hot chocolate. Participants will gather as early as 3 pm at Cathedral Square and roll promptly at 4:00 pm. Free registration appreciated but not required. Thanks to Wheel & Sprocket for providing goodie bags for ride participants!

Saturday, December 16th, 2023
3:00pm to 6:00 pm
Cathedral Square Park
Meet at the corner of Kilbourn and Jefferson, by the playground
Transit: the Hop, 30, 3 blocks or less from CN1, 14, 15, 33

Critical Mass

A (fun!) monthly no-drop bike ride, with a fabulous website. Rolling out 6:00 pm sharp and ending at Mobcraft Brewery this month.

Friday, December 29th, 2023
Rolling out 6:00 pm sharp
Red Arrow Park
920 N Water St
Transit: GREEN, 15, Hop, 57, 18, 33, 19, 30, CN1, 14
Bublr station at Red Arrow Park

Eyes on Projects

Psst - we don’t cover every project in every volume of this newsletter if there is no major new information. Check out previous newsletters for more updates about projects.

South 24th Street Pedestrian Mall

At this week’s City Plan Commission, representatives from the City and from Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) presented a series of items that would create a pedestrian mall in front of Rogers Streets Academy. It would open approximately a block of South 24th Street between Legion and Rogers Streets to the public, and close access to vehicles. According to the presentation, the intent is to create a gathering space in a part of the city with fewer parks, where creating new parks is difficult due to residential density. The design presented will include a soccer field, an outdoor classroom, rain gardens, a raised intersection, improved school drop off, and murals. While this does support the school and the Boys and Girls Club in the school, neighbors will also benefit. It will be a public space, and the City worked with neighbors to also change out lead laterals and improve a nearby alley — a win-win for neighbors who were otherwise hesitant.  The design goes to the Public Works committee next.

Let’s do more of these faster and across the city! This project is essentially a fancy school street. But we don’t need all the works to justify kids’ safety and comfort outside of their schools.

North-South BRT

The East-West Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route kicked off earlier this year, and the route and corridor are experiencing greater ridership. As discussed at a County Committee on Transportation and Transit, the County is currently planning a North-South BRT line primarily along 27th Street. The Purple line currently serves this corridor and is one of the most-used routes in the system. Critically, a higher-frequency and faster route also shortens transfer times, and the N-S BRT would connect with over half of the other MCTS routes. Some things we’d like the N-S BRT to consider: bike parking is desperately missing from the E-W BRT project, and biking generally is forgotten. It would be interesting to see if there is any way to protect bus/bike lanes along the N-S corridor to prevent usage by vehicles, especially extreme speeders. 27th Street is one of the most dangerous streets in the city for all road users, so any improvements should consider cyclists as well as pedestrians.

Learn more and submit feedback: https://www.mkenorthsouth.com

Curious about a project? Check out Engage MKE

There are many road projects happening in Milwaukee. To learn more about them, check out Engage MKE. This resource is a good place to start for understanding the major projects occurring in Milwaukee. Projects include:

• Burnham Park
• Lisbon Avenue
• Oklahoma Avenue Multimodal Improvements
• National Avenue
• Edgewood Avenue
• Cesar Chavez Safe Routes to Transit
• Burleigh Safe Routes to Transit
• Sherman Boulevard
• Van Buren Street Transformation

Surveys

• Growing MKE Draft Recommendation Survey