Better Streets MKE, Vol. 4
Sorry for the slight delay in publishing this volume of Better Streets. There is a lot going on. We just had a rush of public meetings so a lot of this volume will be catching you up on the existing projects!
Upcoming Events
Better Streets Milwaukee meet up
Bring a book to exchange, or the letter you’re working on writing to an elected official, or your ideas for where we should put an interim plaza. Children welcome.
Sunday, April 16th, 2023
2pm to 4pm
Valentine Coffee Co
5918 W Vliet St
Transit: 33
Bublr station close-ish (62nd and Martin Drive)
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, April 21, 2023
8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
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 GOL.
Bublr station on Van Buren St. near Water St.
West Lisbon Ave Public Involvement Meeting
Open house-style public involvement meeting for the West Lisbon Avenue project. This newsletter previously covered the project— proposed designs feature critical safety improvements including protected bike lanes, raised cross walks, and curb extensions.
Tuesday, March 28th, 2023
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Grace Christian Fellowship
9900 W. Capitol Drive
Transit: RED
Interim Plaza Grant program informational session
This meeting is an informational session for applicants interested in grant funding to participate in the interim plaza program.
Thursday, March 30th, 2023
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Virtual
Critical Mass
A (fun!) monthly no-drop bike ride. Rolling out 6:00 pm sharp.
Friday, March 31st, 2023
Rolling out 6:00 pm sharp
Red Arrow Park
920 N Water St
Transit: GREEN, 15, Hop, 57, 18, 33, 19, 30, GOLD, 14
Eyes on Projects
Potential Cass Street Vacation
Northwestern Mutual is planning to make improvements to its North Office Building, and the City has approved Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) district as part of that invest $30 million in the immediate area (Legistar). There’s a number of exciting improvements proposed with that money listed below, but one concerning detail mentioned in the legislation was there will be a request for the City to vacate Cass Street between Mason Street and Wells Street. This could permanently hand over ownership of the street to Northwestern Mutual and privatize a public right of way. We have not yet seen the official request yet, but it is a worrisome aspect and something to keep an eye out for.
At the March PBAC meeting, a representative from DCD relayed concerns from Northwestern Mutual that automotive traffic on Cass makes it a less pleasant experience for NM staff and visitors, and introduces many conflict points. He also mentioned their understanding that a large part of the traffic on the street comes from NM employees parking in their garage. The good news is that the city’s recently approved Interim Plaza program is a way NM could very rapidly implement changes to the street and limit car traffic without the city vacating the street. This would keep the street open as a connection for people walking and biking, while reducing conflict points and making the intersection of Mason and Cass more pleasant for all.
The proposed improvements for the TID are:
- Reconstruction of East Michigan Street/North Lincoln Memorial
Drive/North Cass Street as part of the Lakefront Gateway project, including design and construction of traffic calming elements, bike and pedestrian facilities - Extension of the all ages and abilities bike facility on East Kilbourn Avenue from North Jackson Street to North Astor Street, as well as improvements to the existing all ages and abilities bike facility on East Kilbourn, from North Water Street to North Jackson Street
- Improvements to the East Kilbourn Avenue/North Astor Street/North Prospect Avenue intersection to provide better bike and pedestrian crossings, as well as traffic calming elements
- Installation of an all ages and abilities bike facility between East Mason Street and East Kilbourn Avenue on Prospect Avenue
- Constructing a sidewalk along the east side of Lincoln Memorial Drive between the Art Museum and Mason Street
- Improvements to Cathedral Square Park and Juneau Park
- Oak Leaf Trail improvements
Humboldt Boulevard
Similarly to the Vliet Street project (which will not include protected bike facilities or major pedestrian improvements), we are now stuck with a design for some 10+ years that does not reflect our city’s priorities or current policies. Removal of parking from the street and reduction in travel lanes during construction has not led to major disruption (although likely the occasional headache). We hope that DPW and the City can start to collect data about parking and travel time during construction and make better designs in the future. Construction as substantial as that on Humboldt should not be viewed as some kind of strange outlier to be ignored but instead can be used as a kind of test-case for how much we can push the envelope on road design.
Safe Streets for All Grant
The City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee were both recipients of federal Safe Streets for All grants, including planning and implementation grants. The County received funding to engage all municipalities around reckless driving and safe streets; the City received $4.4 million to invest in pedestrian safety infrastructure, primarily on Capitol Drive in the north side and Cesar Chavez Drive in the south.
Interim Plazas
The Common Council approved DPW’s new Interim Plaza program this week. This program builds on the success of the Open Streets for Business initative to create a mechanism for community groups, BIDs, NIDs, or individuals to repurpose street space to create gathering places for people. Plazas can repurpose slip lanes, a portion of a street across the entire right of way, or a subset of lanes. Full guidelines are available on the program website.
In addition, the city is providing three grants for organizations that want to participate, which can be used to cover the costs of temporary barriers, programming, or other materials. Applications are due by May 12th, and there is an informational session on March 30th.
This is a great program— kudos to our friends at the Department of Public Works for bringing it to life.
West Walnut Street
Keeping this one short: West Walnut is getting a great treatment with protected bike lanes and design that should help calm traffic between 12th and 20th. More details are available on the project website. Keep it coming, DPW!
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. Now that the holidays are behind us, we’ll expect more updates and ways to get involved in some of these projects, so it’s a good time to brush up. Projects include:
Surveys
- Milwaukee County Parks have surveys open for playground reconstructions at Cooper Park and Tippecanoe Park. They also have a neat map of in progress and imminently planned capital projects.
