Kinnickinnic River Parkway - Jackson Park Drive
Jackson Park Drive Reconstruction
Project Update
At the Parks and Culture Committee meeting in March 2024, four primary alternatives for Jackson Park Drive were presented and discussed. Following this discussion, the Parks and Culture Committee, and subsequently the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors at their meeting on March 21, 2024, approved File #24-350, authorizing and directing the Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture to proceed with developing construction plans for a compromise design referred to as ‘Alternative C’. This alternative includes the following:
- Reconstructing the city road segment in-kind
- Reducing the width of Jackson Park Drive and adding an 8-ft trail alongside it, from approximately the west County Park boundary to 53rd Street, and from 51st Street to approximately 130 feet from the east County Park boundary
- Converting the road to a 10-ft trail between 53rd to 51st Street
- Reconstructing the remaining portion of the road in-kind
- Replacing all curb and gutter and other infrastructure, such as storm sewers, where necessary
The design, along with its estimated construction cost, was presented to the board and included in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Culture’s 2025 capital project request. In 2024, the capital request for the construction of this project was approved as part of the 2025 Capital Budget.
As of March 2025, the team is finalizing the design of Alternative C. Please check back for updates on the construction timeline.
Project Location and Background
In 2019, Milwaukee County Parks received funding to complete a re-design of Jackson Park Drive. The road is currently in poor condition with a substandard pavement rating. Jackson Park Drive, which is County-owned except for a small segment (see map below), spans just under a mile and is located in the Jackson Park neighborhood of Milwaukee, bordering the City of West Allis. Jackson Park Drive is situated just south of the KK River Parkway and connects with the City of Milwaukee Street grid.
The road is adjacent to a residential neighborhood. The first 11 homes on the western end of Jackson Park Drive are located on the City of Milwaukee segment, creating a transition between municipal jurisdictions. The segment highlighted in orange on the map below is under the jurisdiction of Milwaukee County, while the segment in blue, along with the surrounding streets, falls under the City of Milwaukee’s oversight.
Public Outreach
On November 16, 2022, and October 5, 2023, Milwaukee County Parks hosted open house meetings to share project information with the public. Meeting materials from these events can be found under the Documents section.
In the weeks leading up to the November 2022 meeting, Parks staff visited neighbors adjacent to Jackson Park Drive and dropped off meeting invitations to every home north of W Cleveland Ave up to Kinnickinnic River Parkway and from S 47th St to S 60th St. Additionally, Parks staff participated in a public meeting on this project that the local County Supervisors hosted on February 25, 2023.
Alternatives Selection
Through an analysis of four potential alternatives for Jackson Park Drive, Milwaukee County Parks initially pursued a detailed design of Alternative B, which focused on narrowing the segments of roadway with driveway access, while replacing the portion of the road without residential driveway access with a 10’ wide asphalt bicycle and pedestrian trail from S 51st Street to the 5600 block of Jackson Park Drive.
Additionally, the design team pursued a detailed design of Alternative C, which includes a trail in the section between S 51st and S 53rd Streets. Road sections in this alternative would include new asphalt, new curb and gutter, and replacement of other infrastructure such as storm sewers, where necessary. Stormwater management best practices, green infrastructure, and restoration and management of natural areas may also be incorporated into the design.
As mentioned above, File #24-350 authorized and directed the Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture to proceed with developing construction plans for ‘Alternative C’.
If you have any questions or comments, please email parksplanning@milwaukeecountywi.gov.
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Project Owner
Phone 414-257-7275 Email parksplanning@milwaukeecountywi.gov -
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.