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Downtown Milwaukee 2040 plan garners 2K+ public comments
What could downtown Milwaukee look like by 2040? The city's new draft plan – "Connec+ing MKE: Downtown Plan 2040" – shows one vision.
MILWAUKEE - Imagine Milwaukee with more public spaces, bigger sidewalks and thinner streets. That's the vision for the city's 2040 plan for downtown. The city's "Connec+ing MKE: Downtown Plan 2040" shows one vision to transform downtown, from roads to bike paths to jobs and people.
The final Community Open House for the plan was held at 3rd Street Market Hall on Thursday, May 11.
Officials said the plan that calls for big changes over the next 17 years "represents an inclusive vision of downtown as a place for every resident in every neighborhood to feel welcome and connected to Milwaukee’s city center." That vision includes making it the most walkable downtown in the Midwest, reimagining I-794 and expanding The Hop streetcar.
"I think it’s really exciting," said "I think it’s been a long time coming. I think it’s been a long time coming. I think that Milwaukee needs to update and modernize in order to attract more businesses."
"Milwaukee is at a critical crossroads," said Mayor Cavalier Johnson. "We’re experiencing a once-in-a-generation development in and around our downtown."
The draft proposal would remove the stretch of I-794 that currently divides downtown from the Historic Third Ward, putting a traditional grid of streets in its place.
The downtown plan for 2040 includes renderings of Water Street with widened sidewalks, separated bike lanes and a lot more trees. There would be a narrowed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive that makes room for wider sidewalks and outdoor dining. Overall, the draft calls for doubling the number of people living downtown – getting to 40,000 people – and boosting jobs to 100,000. It would cut emissions 45% by 2030 and net-zero by 2050.
"We want to make downtown safer," said Lafayette Crump, Department of City Development. "We want to make it more vibrant. We want to increase development to allow more people to call downtown home. Downtown is everyone’s neighborhood, an inclusive neighborhood for everyone in our city to feel welcomed and connected to a remainder of the city, as well."
Downtown Milwaukee 2040 plan
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The plan garnered 2,800 comments from all zip codes in the city. It calls for public and private funding.
"I think these are outstanding plans," said Alderman Robert Bauman. "They were the product of public input that we received."
They are big ideas to reshape downtown Milwaukee.
"We want this to really feel like the center of a magnificent city," said Crump.
Downtown Milwaukee 2040 plan
Plan details
Public input received throughout the planning process in the last two years helped shape six "big ideas" for how public and private investment can drive physical changes to downtown Milwaukee. A news release said the "big ideas" include:
- Growing downtown’s population
- Investing in parks and gathering spaces
- Expanding and enhancing transit
- Reconnecting places divided by human-made barriers
- Improving streets to support all users
- Redesigning streets as public places
According to the release, the plan recommends a series of public and private development projects. Among those are seven high-priority projects including the following:
- Public Museum & State Office Building Redevelopment at MacArthur Square
- Public Space Management Organization for Parks & Public Spaces
- Extending the Streetcar (Westown, Bronzeville, Walker’s Point and the East Side)
- 6th Street Complete Street
- Water Street Entertainment District
- Performing Arts Center Parking Garage Redevelopment Site
- Reimagining the I-794 & Clybourn Street Corridor
Downtown Milwaukee 2040 plan
Officials said the proposed projects would complement the progress made by the 2010 Downtown Area Plan which included:
- Addition of a fixed-rail streetcar system
- Revitalization of Wisconsin Avenue
- New circulation patterns, development and public spaces at the Lakefront Gateway
- Building a strong Broadway Connection to better link the central business district to the Historic Third Ward
- Developing the area around Pere Marquette Square with residential, commercial and entertainment uses
- Enhancing the Station Plaza/Milwaukee Intermodal Station area
- Improving accessibility to the underutilized MacArthur Square
- Developing the Haymarket area into a mixed-use neighborhood with a public square
The draft plan is available on the project website. Dialogue is encouraged at connectingmke.com, where users can participate in the virtual open house and provide feedback until May 22.