Kinnickinnic River Parkway - Jackson Park Drive
A resolution authorizing and directing the Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture to proceed with developing constructions plans for a compromise design referred to as “Alternative C” for Capital Project WP071401 (Kinnickinnic River Parkway-Jackson Park Drive) and present the design with estimated construction costs to the board prior to submitting the department's 2025 capital project requests was PASSED at the Parks Committee meeting on March 12th, 2024.
Milwaukee County - File #: 24-350 (legistar.com)
Project Update - February 9th, 2024
Following a year of extensive community engagement, which included two open house events, a town hall, community canvassing, and online interaction, Milwaukee County Parks has chosen to proceed with preparing construction documents for Alternative B.
This option will see the reconstruction of 400’ of City of Milwaukee-owned street on the west and the conversion of Jackson Park Drive into ten-foot trail between approximately the 5600 block and 51st street, with a reconstruction of the road with reduced capacity from 51st to Cleveland.
Parks received feedback from residents of Jackson Park Drive, members of the larger Jackson Park neighborhood and Park users across the county. That input was considered and balanced with the project goals of reducing impermeable surfaces and the accompanying pollutants, improving recreational opportunities, and fiscal sustainability.
The Parks Department anticipates document completion in time to submit for construction funding in the 2025 budget. Departmental capital budget requests are due in early to mid summer (June/July) of this 2024. Those requests are then heard by the County’s Capital Improvements Committee in August, which provides recommendations to the County Executive for inclusion in his recommended budget. If included in the County Executive’s budget, the County Board of Supervisors will debate the project’s inclusion in the adopted budget in November.
Recognizing that the pavement and curbing of Jackson Park Drive, from West Cleveland Avenue at 47th Street to West Cleveland Avenue at 58th Street, is in poor condition, Milwaukee County Parks proposed some updates. Parks received funding to complete design work, where staff has focused on potentially narrowing the segments of roadway that have driveway access and potentially replacing the portion of the road, where there is no residential driveway access, with a 10’ wide asphalted bike/pedestrian trail. If the final design includes the replacement of the road with a trail, cul-de-sacs at the east end of the City of Milwaukee roadway (at approximately the 5600 block), and the northern end of 53rd Street would provide a turn-around for vehicles.
The road sections would include new asphalt, new curb and gutter, and replacement of other infrastructure such as storm sewers, where necessary. Stormwater best management practices, green infrastructure, and natural areas restoration and management may also be incorporated into the design.
As mentioned above, there is funding for design work. The funding for construction will be requested in the County’s 2025 budget. If the project is funded, the earliest that construction would begin is in 2025.
The project is part of a multi-phase project to reconstruct seven segments of the Kinnickinnic River Parkway.
Summary of Community Engagement
On November 16, 2022, and October 5, 2023, Milwaukee County Parks hosted an Open House to share project information with the public. In the weeks leading up to the 2022 meeting, Parks staff visited neighbors adjacent to Jackson Park Drive and dropped off Open House invitations at every home north of Cleveland Ave. up to Kinnickinnic River Parkway and from 47th St. West to 60th St. Staff gathered input from approximately 60 residents at the first public input meeting.
The following info boards were displayed at both Open Houses:
The 2023 Open House was promoted through social media and elected officials' notices and emails to registrants from previous meetings. Based on input collected at the previous meeting, the project team developed four alternatives shown below. Public comments were accepted through Friday, November 3, 2023.
The following info boards were displayed at the 2023 Open House:
KK River Parkway TrailsIf you have any questions or comments, please email parksplanning@milwaukeecountywi.gov.
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Who's Listening
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Project Owner
Phone 414-257-7275 Email parksplanning@milwaukeecountywi.gov -
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Phone 14145678310 Email antonio.giron@milwaukeecountywi.gov
We do not feel that our neighborhood and our homes should be used in an experimental plan. At the meeting we were told that there is no other street in the city like Jackson Park Drive where they have plans to convert a street with homes on it into a bike path.
My husband and I have lived on Jackson Park Drive for over 28 years and are completely opposed to the plan to convert a section of the parkway into a bike path for a number of reasons.
- The parkway as it exists is already a bike path. There are MANY people accessing the road for biking, walking, running, dog walking, etc.
The detriments of eliminating the street include:
-making that section more dangerous as the routine police drive throughs and patrols would be eliminated. If MPD District 6 were contacted you could see the number of times officers are involved in stopping criminal activities in this section.
-making living here more dangerous as emergency vehicles would not have access to the properties on the Jackson Park Drive side of their property.
- eliminating our ability to have friends and family park in front of our home. Parking on Andover Road is very limited due to the number of driveways.
- necessitating us, along with 13 other families, to go through the very time consuming work of changing our address on all of our accounts and documents.
This bike path will not tie into any other bike path.
We do not see any value being added to specifically our home or our neighborhood.
***We actually believe that the value of our property would decrease due to the lack of access from Jackson Park Drive.***
I live on Jackson Park Drive on the South end where one of the Cul De Sacs would go. I bike the parkway on the way to work and for exercise. I run around the parkway, and through the woods near the river for exercise. I have three small children who love hiking through the woods near the river. I feel like the reduced car traffic would be great, but that it would come with some unintended consequences. The woods surrounding the KK River in this area are secluded which makes for a nice hike, but also provide cover for people who don't want to be seen. Over the last 8 years I've lived here, there has been a dead body recovered from the river, and a man living in the woods (for months) who ended up harassing the child of a neighbor and attempted to follow her into their house, and my garage was robbed in broad daylight while my wife and child were home. This is with the road in place, which puts traffic (including regular police patrols) much closer to this area. Additionally, in an area further East along the KK River between 16th and Chase (along a similar short stretch of bike path, the river is littered with camps (And actual litter, as a result). Closure of the road in favor of a bike path would further seclude the forested area by reducing traffic and making it more difficult for law enforcement to patrol.
Aside from the safety issue, I don't really see a point- The bike trail will not link up to another trail. I'm also skeptical of the cost comparison of this project to simply repaving the existing road. The numbers do not appear to make sense.
This looks like an excellent plan. Replacing the road with a bike path will make the KK Parkway more park-like, which should make the neighborhood more attractive and increase property values. Ideally, the bike path would connect with a continuous path along the KK River.
I think that this would be a waste of public money. This section of roadway goes no where. It starts from Cleveland and ends on Cleveland and goes for about eight blocks. I often pass through this area on long runs and with my bike. It's beautiful the way it is. The river has paths to take if you want a more scenic view. If it had a connection to other trails ( i.e. Hank Aaron, New Berlin Trail), I would definitely be open to the project. There's no connections. There is a short run to the east via Jackson Park and on behind St. Luke's, but you have to travel Cleveland Avenue to get to it. Then to the west you have to cross 60th street and north for a block to continue on the parkway which only goes to McCarty Park and stops.
I would be open to replacing the existing road and curbs on the proposed section. The problem is Milwaukee has no idea how to build roads. They don't last. I think that the road builders unions cow to a lot of goofy state and federal regulations for their own purposes. But that is another conversation.
Our backyard runs along W. Jackson Park Drive where the proposed bike/pedestrian trail would be. My wife is for the change. I am conflicted, but only in a selfish sense. Currently I rake my backyard leaves onto Jackson Park. I also have my firewood delivered to the back yard via Jackson Park where I store until use. Otherwise, I like the idea of non motorized traffic in the back.
How will that affect traffic on Jerelyn Pl? Since Jackson Park Drive will no longer be accessible, the traffic will have to be redirected to another street.
At this time I can see both pros and cons to this project. In order to decide if this will be a benefit to the neighborhood, much more information is needed. Neighbors that live on both Jackson park drive and Andover road need to be made more aware of this potential project, since they are the people that this will effect on a daily basis. A neighborhood meeting needs to be held, with visuals of what this proposal will look like when it is completed, and a timeline needs to be given as well.
Right now, I don’t think many neighbors even know this is a potential idea. In order to have a successful project everyone in the neighborhood should be aware of what is occurring.
I hope to see a timeline of meetings and an artists rendition of the project on this site soon.
Also, I do have questions:
will it change the homes addresses of those who live on the parkway, and will what is now their front yard be considered their backyard? Also, how will personal yards be differentiated from public space used for the trail? Will plants be used at the edges of the lawns?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. My neighbors and I will be sure to get the word out. We look forward to a meeting about this soon.
We live on Jackson Park Drive and are very concerned on how this will impact our property value. We do not support closing off Jackson Park Drive to vehicles.