Photo by Barry Houlehen
The Oak Leaf Trail at Lincoln Park
The Oak Leaf Trail at Lincoln Park
Spring is finally here. The sun is out. Your bike is all tuned up and ready to go. But where are you going to ride? Luckily for folks in Southeastern Wisconsin, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has been busy converting former railroad tracks into usable routes for cyclists and pedestrians for years.
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a national organization established in 1986. During the early years, the group took on individual projects to create a single standalone trail where there had once been a railbed. For the past 20 years or so, the Conservancy has been more focused on creating trail networks that function more like a system of roads for cyclists. For Southeast Wisconsin the goal is that in the future, a system of trails named the “Route of the Badger” will connect Washington and Ozaukee Counties north of Milwaukee, down to the south of Milwaukee to Racine and Kenosha Counties, and from Milwaukee west to Waukesha and Walworth Counties.
If this seems like a pretty big deal to you, then you are not alone. Willie Karidis, project manager for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy says, “The Route of the Badger will encompass the Oak Leaf Trail, the Oak Leaf Trail, the Beerline Trail, the Seven Waters Trail, and several other trails throughout the seven southeast counties.” This connectivity would bring more opportunities to avoid biking alongside cars, safer rides for families with young kids, and more places for pedestrians and dog-walkers to explore.
However, a project this big doesn’t simply happen. There is a lot of planning, cooperation, and patience that goes into it. A whole host of complications and issues may stand in the way of a proposed trail route. Communities have to agree to set aside land, maintain trails and make sure that they have the budget, staff and equipment to maintain said trails. Or, in some cases there aren’t any old rail lines where planners need the trail to go. “Sometimes when there haven’t been any pre-planned trails by a community, or when the rail lines are few and far between,” says Karidis, “we have to be creative.”
Forming Partnerships
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One way the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy can “be creative” is by forming a partnership with utility companies. In Southeast Wisconsin, We Energies has miles and miles of overhead utility line corridors. The spaces underneath those lines make great trail routes. “We Energies is the leader in the entire country of providing easements to counties and cities to build trails,” says Karidis. It’s a great opportunity for a utility company to offer a service to their customers as well as providing additional uses for areas that can’t be used for much else but still have to be maintained.
A great example of this creativity at work is the new, aptly named Power Line Trail in Greenfield. The City of Greenfield worked with We Energies to develop this trail, which runs from the Oak Leaf Trail to 60th Street under the existing power lines. There are plans in the works now, with the cooperation of Greenfield, West Allis, Milwaukee and St. Francis, to extend the Power Line Trail all the way to the lakefront, ultimately becoming part of the Route of the Badger.
Another creative solution for the Conservancy is to identify rarely used Class-2 railways, where the speeds are capped at 20mph, and create a rail with a trail scenario. “We’ve been working on a project called the 30th Street Corridor trail that has been gaining lots of traction. But where do you put that?” commented Karidis, adding, “The 30th Street rail corridor is so seldomly used that over the past seven years that I've been giving tours of that area, I’ve never seen a rail car actually moving along the rail line.” The 30th Street Corridor is a perfect example of the rail with trail concept. It could work well because the tracks are seldom used, and any trains that do come through are held to those low speeds. Building a trail alongside these tracks may be an excellent solution to connect an area that doesn’t currently have many bike trails connecting to bigger routes.
Often, even with creative thinking, there isn’t a way to avoid using some roads to connect one trail with another. “The Route of the Badger is divided into planned trails and planned on-street because we recognize that in some areas, it's just not possible to put a trail but it’s a really important connection,” says Karidis, “sometimes the only way to do that is on-street.” So, it is a good thing that the City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works has really been pushing hard to build more protected on-street facilities.
New Bike Lanes
You’ve probably seen some of these new paths being added. One of the first examples of where instead of cars being parked directly next to the curb, they are moved out and the bike lanes are on the inside, was in Downtown Milwaukee on Kilbourn Avenue. More recently, some of these new bike lanes have the added safety of being raised to the level of the sidewalk, like on stretches of Walnut Street or adjacent to segments of North Avenue in Wauwatosa near Mayfair Mall. These new bike lanes should serve to raise rider’s comfort levels, and in the future when more protected lanes are added throughout our communities an on-street connection won’t be an issue. “We’re interested in facilities that you'd be comfortable having your own kids on,” says Karidis, “When you're biking with your family and all of a sudden, you come to this on-street connection, you don’t want to have to fear that things are going to be really death defying, you want your kids to be safe.”
In the end, all of these improved lanes, expanding trails, and planned routes will connect the city, Milwaukee County and surrounding counties in new and healthier ways. Each community may be working on their own part of the plans, but they know it’s part of something bigger. “That’s the greatest thing about the Route of the Badger. Communities are working together to build an entire network of trails,” says Kardis. “We all get to know each other and build one solid network plan, which I think is really cool.”
To learn more about the Rails to Trails Conservancy and the Route of the Badger visit railstotrails.org/trailnation/route-of-the-badger
