Part of downtown Milwaukee’s North Water Street would be reduced from four car lanes to two car lanes, with protected bike lanes added, under a new city proposal.
That plan also calls for bus lanes that run next to the street’s median strip to reduce conflicts with cars.
The proposal to remake the eight-block stretch, between East Pleasant Street and East Kilbourn Avenue, would slow down speeding cars, and make Water Street safer for drivers, pedestrians and bike riders, according to the Department of Public Works.
Those plans, unveiled Oct. 7, need Common Council approval.
The proposal comes after the department in 2024 displayed it and two other plans to the public. The department chose its preferred alternative after collecting public feedback.
That process now continues with the preferred alternative. The department, part of Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s administration, plans to next work on the proposal’s design.
A construction timeline and project budget are yet to be determined.
Funding would come from downtown tax districts
Those funds are coming from tax incremental financing districts created to help pay for commercial developments in downtown and other neighborhoods.
The property tax revenue from those newer developments flows to the financing districts instead of to the city, Milwaukee Public Schools and other local governments.
The planned reduction in auto lanes is tied to Water Street’s average daily traffic count of around 17,800 vehicles.
Two-lane streets can typically handle 18,000 to 20,000 vehicles, according to the department.
That stretch of Water Street sees a lot of cars traveling faster than its 30 miles per hour speed limit.
“Crash rates on Water Street are significantly higher than average compared to similar types of streets,” the proposal says.
Slowing down traffic by shrinking the lanes, and making other design changes, will reduce crashes that cause injuries and deaths, the department says.
Also, the bike lanes would run between the sidewalks and the parking lanes. That’s a similar approach used to create other protected bike lanes.
Meanwhile, the department has started preliminary design work on reconstructing North Water Street between East Clybourn and East Erie streets, in the Historic Third Ward.
The plan also seeks to slow down traffic.
It calls for two main auto lanes, a reduction from four lanes. That stretch of Water Street has an average daily traffic count of around 13,700 vehicles.
Other proposed changes include wider sidewalks, exclusive turning lanes, curb extensions, and more landscaping and trees.
That work would be funded through a Third Ward tax financing district, with the cost estimate still undetermined. The project’s design is to be completed in 2026, with construction planned for 2026 and 2027.
Finally, the Water Street Bridge connecting the Third Ward to Walker’s Point remains closed to traffic, likely through this fall, for structural work.
Traffic is being detoured to Pittsburgh Avenue across the Young Street Bascule Bridge.
That $3.2 million project is getting 80% of its funding from the state, with the city paying the remaining share, said Tiffany Shepherd, Department of Public Works marketing and communications officer.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Downtown’s Water Street could be cut from 4 to 2 auto lanes — with protected bike lanes added
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
