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Hoan alternative: build up set to start on city's first raised bike lane

Posted by Tom Held of the Journal Sentinel on June 15, 2011

cycling

Construction will begin later this month on Milwaukee’s first raised bike lane, a section of pavement built up four inches above the traffic lane on Bay St., roughly from Beulah Brinton Park off E. Potter St. to the Wrought Washer plant at S. Lenox St.

The bike lane is part of a larger project to improve cycling between the Bay View neighborhood and Downtown Milwaukee, and the alternative picked by the Department of Transportation after it rejected proposals to install a bike path on the Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge.

When tied to the Kinnickinnic River Trail, the route will include the bike lane, an off-street path on a former rail corridor and lanes marked for bikes on S. 1st St., Kinnickinnic and S. Water St.

Scheduled to be completed in 2012, the bicycle route will link the Oak Leaf Trail in Cupertino Park to the connection in Lakeshore State Park.

It has been studied since 1997.

Other large cities, including New York and Portland have experimented with various approaches to separate bikes from motor vehicles. Only Vancouver, B.C., and Bend and Eugene, Ore., have installed the raised bike lanes used more commonly in Europe, according to Dave Schlabowske, the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator in the Milwaukee Department of Public Works.

Included in the overall Milwaukee bicycling master plan, this will be Milwaukee’s first project to go beyond paint on pavement.

“Right now, we’re doing this as a pilot,” Schlabowske said. “As far as I know, this is the first such facility in the state of Wisconsin.”

The bike lane will be slightly more than five feet wide, extend about 1,700 feet on Bay St., and cost $178,000. It will be installed as part of a larger portion of the Downtown to Bay View Bikeway that will cost $1.85 million, according to city figures.

Federal grants will be used to pay for roughly $1.5 million, with another $378,000 in city funds devoted to the project.

Phase II is set for construction in 2012.

That will connect the bicycle lane on Kinnickinnic Ave. to the KK River Trail at E. Maple St., and follow an off-road path on abandoned rail bed to E. Washington St. From that point, S. Water St. will be reconstructed, the railroad crossings improved and a bike lane added to connect to E. Pittsburgh St. and an on-street pathway to the lakefront.

“What we’re trying to do is match the on-road experience with the separated trail experience for the users,” Schlabowske said. “For many people, a bike lane is not as pleasant an experience as a separated bike trail.”

Ald. Tony Zielinski, who represents the area, called it an improvement in safety for bicyclists using the city streets.

"Bay View embraces new ideas and thinking out of the box, so it's very appropriate that it be done in this area," Zielinski said.

A pre-construction meeting with planners and the contractor, Stark Asphalt, will be held on June 21. Construction will follow. 

58 Comments for "Hoan alternative: build up set to start on city's first raised bike lane"

  1. ok, after seeing the inset, I don't see how this is any different, beneficial, or faster. The path follows the existing route. What's the difference?

    subtleT Jun 15, 2011 12:33 PM

  2. FYI...I passed 15 bikers yesterday on my commute home on 2nd street alone. That was just me biking home around 4:30pm. The ridership is increasing exponentially. Most of the people in my neighborhood in BV bike to work downtown throughout the summer. Some, like myself, bike throughout the year. There are A LOT of bikers going from BV to downtown. You really have no idea what you are talking about "btanderson".

    Convinced of the Hex Jun 15, 2011 12:33 PM

  3. subleT - The raised bike lane on Bay St. provides some separation from motor vehicle traffic. S. Water St. will be improved, with a marked bike lane. The segment from S. 6th and Rosedale to Lincoln Ave., and from Maple to Washington will be off-street (abandoned rail bed). The bridges on the route will have non-slip plates added.

    T. Held Jun 15, 2011 12:36 PM

  4. Subtle-T, the raised path will reduce the time it takes between BV and DTown, the way it does for cars on the Hoan Bridge...you avoid stop-lights and it's one straight shot. see?

    Modra Jun 15, 2011 12:46 PM

  5. Not only is biking to work popular, it is on weekends too. This will only encourage more riders, and with the price of gas these days those numbers will escalate in short order.

    Jun 15, 2011 12:51 PM

  6. I'm curious how snow removal, cleaning etc. is accomplished with a raised
    path. Maybe in a following article some engineering diagrams could be
    included or artist renditions to get a better visual sense of how these lanes
    are built. This is an interesting approach for vehicle separation with what I'm
    assuming minimum easement etc. that a separate path would incur. Glad to
    see these bike friendly projects moving forward as I believe their benefits
    (real and intangible) outweigh their cost.

    buitternut Jun 15, 2011 1:13 PM

  7. Gotta love the interweb network of tubes...

    http://overthebarsinmilwaukee.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/tasty-treat-2-
    raised-bike-lanes/

    buitternut Jun 15, 2011 1:18 PM

  8. I guess it will save a little time. This just doesn't seem to be that drastic of an improvement. I thought they were going to go through Jones Island; that would really save time but bridging the river would be nearly impossible. So, I guess I'm not too excited about it but I will check it out when it's done.

    subtleT Jun 15, 2011 1:19 PM

  9. So did they simply take a lane away from traffic or did they expand the entire street? Also, I see the Journal failed Civics 101 again. Federal tax money is our money too. If the fed is paying to build this will we be imposing licensing fees to use this trail? How about charging a real bike license fee too?

    jimtherepublican Jun 15, 2011 1:23 PM

  10. Jim- I'm a taxpayer, and I'm totally fine with my tax dollars going to provide
    bicycle infrastructure. I approve.

    okiefo Jun 15, 2011 1:27 PM

  11. @jimtherepublican: Neither. There is a wide outside shoulder along this stretch that they are using.

    Jun 15, 2011 1:31 PM

  12. jimtherepublican,

    I assume, by your logic, that you would be okay with imposing a toll on city streets for automobiles? The idea is to *encourage* people to get out of their cars. The benefits are obvious -->

    *fewer cars leads to less maintenance costs for roads
    *fewer cars leads to less pollution
    *more exercise and less pollution leads less health care costs
    *bikes are fueled by renewable energy
    *riding a bike is far cheaper than riding a car

    I don't see a downside, but I'm sure you do jim. care to enlighten me?

    CanalStreetExit Jun 15, 2011 1:48 PM

  13. I envy the bikers to work. I live only about 5 miles from where I work but I'm also one of those people who starts to sweat when I tie my shoes. So I would spend the first 2 hours at work cooling off regardless of temperature.

    However when I used to live in Bayview I would ride some of these streets on toward downtown and they didn't exactly make me feel too safe. Sounds like this is a good addition.

    BadgerPacker09 Jun 15, 2011 1:53 PM

  14. Per Dave Schlabowske - the plow blades will ride up on the raised bike lane. He noted that Milwaukee streets are not flat, and the variation in height is not expected to be a problem. When completed that section of Bay St. will have one traffic lane in each direction, the raised bike lane and the parking lane.

    T. Held Jun 15, 2011 1:55 PM

  15. For those trying to attack me because I'd like to see bikes actually paying for this, let me explain. The roads are not only used by cars. Trucks carrying commerce use them daily. However, bikes offer very little in the way of use. Generally, one rider, one bike. No revenue generated from taxes from fees, fuel tax, licensing, road tax, wheel tax, etc. For the costs, this only handles bikes. Who pays for the snow removal and other maintenance required for year round use? Again, all things being equal, this project is rather expensive for a few hundred riders per day.

    jimtherepublican Jun 15, 2011 2:08 PM

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