The city of Milwaukee plans to use $750,000 it is getting from the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct development planning along proposed streetcar extensions in the Bronzeville and Walker’s Point neighborhoods.
Milwaukee was one of 16 metro areas to receive funding from $14.7 million in grants announced by the department’s Federal Transit Administration. The grants are part of the administration’s Transit-Oriented Development Planning Pilot Program, which is intended to help localities plan improved access to transit, jobs, education and services along with attracting new business opportunities.
The grant will help fund public engagement and community input on appropriate densities, land uses and infrastructure needs in the area of the proposed extensions. It would also asses the city zoning code to make sure it supports higher-density mixed-use development in the transit corridors.
Development plans and policies will also be developed for key sites, along with plans for streetscape improvements and wayfinding and gateway signage.
A housing market analysis will be done focused on creating and preserving affordable housing and protecting historic properties along the extension.
Actual routes for streetcar extensions along Dr. Martin Luther King Drive into Bronzeville or into Walker’s Point have not been finalized yet. The routes would be developed off an extension planned along Fourth Street that would service the new Milwaukee Bucks arena.
The city applied for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant to fund the extension, but found out in July it was not selected.
Ghassan Korban, commissioner of the Department of Public Works, said at the time the city would try again during the next funding round in 2017 and had local funding to support continued planning.
