Better Streets MKE, Vol. 7
You wanted a beautiful summer? You got it.
Summer is here, welcome to the summer.
Upcoming Events
Critical Mass (TONIGHT!)
A (fun!) monthly no-drop bike ride, with a fabulous website. Rolling out 6:00 pm sharp tonight!
Friday, May 26th, 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
Petal Parade
Decorate your bike and yourself up like beautiful flowers and come bike around Riverwest together! Small loop around the neighborhood that starts and ends at Riverwest Radio.
Saturday, May 27th, 2023
3-4 pm
Riverwest Radio
824 E Center St
Transit: 22, 14, 15
Tactical Urbanism Meet Up
What kinds of ways can you improve your street with some paint, signs, concrete, or buckets? What is actually City-approved? Talk about projects like making your own bollards, improving signage around parking-protected bike lanes, and more at this meet up! Focused on actually “getting sh*t done," so bring a can-do attitude and a specific issue you want to address.
Sunday, May 28th, 2023
11 am to noon-ish
South Shore Beer Garden
2900 South Shore Drive
Nearby Transit: walkable from the 15, Bublr
TMJ4 Reckless Driving Town Hall
TMJ4 will host a second town hall, this time focused on solutions to the reckless driving crisis, with a different set of panelists. While it is too late to register if you have not already, it’s good to be aware that this conversation is happening.
Thursday, June 1, 2023
6:30 to 8 pm
Riverside University HS
1615 E. Locust St
Nearby Transit: 22, 66, GREEN, Bublr
Bike Week
Wisconsin’s statewide Bike Week is right around the corner! Check out the commuter stations, rides, and more across the state and in the Milwaukee area. Recommend using the list or calendar view. Great time to check out events near you — or in a new neighborhood! Psst - you, your business, neighborhood association, etc. can all still plan events, too!
Sunday June 3 - Saturday June 10
Statewide
Learn more here
National Avenue Public Input Meetings (PIMs)
We are expecting a substantial redesign for National Avenue, and it’s going to take a lot of public support to make it happen. Currently, most of the nearly 3 miles of this corridor is along the Pedestrian High Injury Network. Despite its frequent use by pedestrians and cyclists, National Avenue in its current iteration has no bike facilities, often narrow sidewalks, and extremely high motor vehicle speeds. The businesses and residents along this stretch deserve a better road - one that prioritizes families and community over motor vehicle efficiency. We just might get that, and this project could set a standard for other projects across the city and state. It’s time to demand more from WisDOT’s urban highways.
If you arrive by bike for either meeting, be prepared for limited parking or to bring your bike inside. Tentatively, there will be two rides to the PIMs - one from the east (Saturday) and one from the west (Thursday). Check out the Bike Week calendar for more details (use the list or month view). These are “open house” meetings, so drop in when you can and stay as long as you need.
Thursday, June 8th, 2023
4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
MATC at Walker Square
816 W. National Ave.
Nearby Transit: 18, 20, walkable from the GREEN and 15
Saturday, June 10th, 2023
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
MATC at Walker Square
816 W. National Ave.
Nearby Transit: 18, 20, walkable from the GREEN and 15
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, June 16th, 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.
Critical Mass (June)
A (fun!) monthly no-drop bike ride, with a fabulous website. Rolling out 6:00 pm sharp.
Friday, June 30th, 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
Van Buren
Despite the ongoing fiscal strains, City staff have been creative with financing for road projects. By utilizing Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) money for projects where development is occurring, the City theorizes that it can use its general local dollars for traffic calming measures in other neighborhoods that are not seeing similar developments. (Note: TIF dollars have very limited geographic range.) One of the projects funded by these dollars is Van Buren.
It’s a good project, involving the conversion of Van Buren to a 2-way street along the stretch (Wisconsin to Brady), street landscaping, pedestrian safety improvements, and protected bike lanes from Wells to Brady. Unfortunately, the lack of bike facilities from Wells to Wisconsin means that biking on Van Buren will not be well-connected to either the new MCTS CONNECT BRT or the nearby Hop’s expansion to the lakefront. The thought is that cyclists should use Wells and Jefferson instead, which are both priorities for the city’s bike network. Still, transit and bikes should be best friends - let’s get some facilities through this whole project corridor.
Ivanhoe Place
It’s pedestrianized! Let the societal collapse from the loss of a few parking spaces begin!
We jest, but it’s great to see this project happen quickly. Ivanhoe (between Farwell and Prospect) is officially closed to motor vehicle traffic, with the exception of the Educators’ Credit Union drive-through. This is a public space, so no business will have priority over it. Go use it, tell your friends about it, and think about where you might want a similar plaza in your neighborhood. The City’s new Interim Plaza Program is there for you to use!
Brady Street Pedestrianization
In the next few weeks, we expect to see initial plans for Brady Street pedestrianization options. This initial proposal will only be limited to about 2 blocks of Brady, between Warren and Franklin. If there are businesses on the Brady corridor that you enjoy, we highly recommend reaching out to them in support of this effort.
Oklahoma Avenue
From 27th to 6th Streets, Oklahoma will be given a makeover. This is through a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant. These grants are specifically designed to improve bike and pedestrian access and safety. The road will have 4 different designs along the stretch, ranging from parking-protected bike lanes to no bike facilities. However, pedestrian experiences will be improved along the stretch. This is a difficult project: a small bucket of money for a large project, and reducing vehicle capacity on a very busy road in an area of the city where community might be more hesitant. It’s a good start, and the kind of project that might set the stage for a far more substantial redesign when an opportunity for a full reconstruction arises. That said, it’s an example of why we need more funding and need to make connections with all areas of the city to hear their concerns about these changes and organize together for safer streets.
P.S. Want to see more bike and pedestrian infrastructure in our state? Call or write your state elected officials and say you support an expansion of TAP. Wisconsin is literally leaving money on the table and diverting money for pedestrian and bike safety to highways.
You get a curb extension! And YOU get a curb extension!
The City continues to drop traffic calming infrastructure with - if we may editorialize - all the air of Santa arriving on Christmas Eve. Curb extensions are being built on racetracks like 27th and 35th Streets. Many residents are taking advantage of the temporarily ARPA-discounted Neighborhood Traffic Management Program and getting new speed bumps and traffic circles installed. With the speed of these installations, not every project looks the same. If one of these rapidly-implemented curb extensions works particularly well or poorly for you, take a photo and send an explanation to folks like your alderman, DPW’s multimodal unit, or the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee. Providing information will help the city be more specific with contractors installing these rapid changes.
Construction Season and Accessibility
The “Great Milwaukee Summer” is upon us — we are referring of course to Construction Season. As a reminder, Milwaukee’s Complete Streets resolution commits to maintaining “Complete Streets principles into all public way improvements and project phases, including planning, programming, design, right-of-way acquisition, permitting, subdivision and land development, new construction, construction management, reconstruction, operation, capital improvements, and routine maintenance and rehabilitation.”
If you are having difficulty accessing a route due to construction, be helpful. Identify a specific change that could be made (e.g. install a temporary ramp, place a bike detour sign with information about alternative routes, etc.) and suggest this to your alder or DPW. Be as clear and helpful as possible.
What about everywhere else?
When I co-write these newsletters, I am often concerned that I am missing critical projects. We’re trying to get these out as often as we can, but between our own jobs & lives and a wealth of important projects, it’s difficult to cover everything. Yet I find myself mostly writing about the East Side, downtown, and occasionally some areas just a stone’s throw away. There is good work happening everywhere (Safe Routes to Transit! Soul Roll Rides! Safe Streets For All grant improving many intersections!) but please let us know if there’s a project you wish we were covering. - MM (marybethmcginnis@gmail.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:
Surveys
- Powerline Trail Phase 2 - This is a one question survey on whether you generally support expanding the trail going east (Recommended: Yes)
- 794 Survey - We recommend commenting on your support for the removal of 794. This would not remove the Hoan. Instead, the street grid would be re-connected, offering more access between downtown and the southern communities & neighborhoods via more modes of travel.
