Big changes coming for Michigan Street in downtown Milwaukee. Redesign focused on bikes, pedestrians and buses.

A downtown Milwaukee street that's seeing new commercial development is changing to make it more welcoming to people who bike, walk and use buses.

The redesigned Michigan Street will swap some car lanes for protected bike lanes and include other changes under a new plan from Mayor Cavalier Johnson's administration.

Construction is to begin this fall − pending a final design based partly on community input. That work, between North Eighth and North Water streets, should be done by November.

The $2.5 million project will make the street safer by reducing speeding, and make it more attractive to development − including a planned minor league soccer stadium, city officials say.

The improvements will "add to the positive momentum in downtown Milwaukee, which continues to witness exciting development, investment and activity," said Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump, in a statement.

A redesigned Michigan Street will join other Milwaukee streets undergoing changes designed to slow down traffic and better accommodate biking, walking and mass transit.

A 2.6-mile section of Sixth Street, between West North and West National avenues, will be reconstructed with funding through a $36.6 million federal grant touted last month by President Joe Biden. That work is to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2029.

Meanwhile, work will soon start on improvements to North Van Buren Street, between East Brady Street and East Wisconsin Avenue. That $3.2 million project, to be completed in November, includes converting a one-way portion, between Wisconsin and Kilbourn Avenues, to two-way traffic.

The projects are part of the downtown long-range comprehensive plan which the Common Council and Mayor Johnson approved in 2023.

Michigan Street part of a network of safer Milwaukee streets

"The idea is to create a network of safer streets," said Marissa Meyer, a Department of Public Works transportation planner.

The department's preliminary plans for Michigan Street call for converting it from four lanes to two lanes for cars. Parking lanes are to be pared from two to one for most of the redesigned street.

That space will instead be used for two bike lanes and a median strip.

That "road diet" will slow down traffic on the street, where the speed limit is 30 miles per hour, Meyer told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Similar road diets on other Milwaukee streets have helped reduce speeding, according to the department.

On one side of the street, the bike lane will be screened from traffic by a parking lane − similar to Kilbourn Avenue, East North Avenue and other roads.

Concrete barriers also will be used − a tactic that's part of Milwaukee's growing bike infrastructure.

In some stretches, Meyer said, barriers won't work because cars need to access driveways for commercial properties − mainly parking structures.

Instead, bike lanes will be screened from cars with plastic posts designed to mark them.

This stretch of Michigan Street typically has up to 5,300 to 7,700 vehicles daily. The street's two-lane version could accommodate around 15,000 vehicles daily without major congestion, Meyer said.

Also, the street's 112 metered parking spaces are generally less than 65% full even at the busiest times, according to the department. There are 5,000 off-street public parking spaces along the street.

Other planned changes include shorter pedestrian crossings; new landscaping and trees; Milwaukee County Transit System bus stop improvements; left-turn lanes at select locations; some driveways restricted to right-turn in and out, and bio-swales to soak up storm water.

Milwaukee Tool, Fiserv bring new developments to the street

The focus on Michigan Street comes in part from the idea of creating an alternative route for bikers that's parallel to the more heavily used Wisconsin Avenue, Meyer said.

The changes are coming as Michigan Street sees some major commercial developments.

Milwaukee Tool in summer 2023 completed the redevelopment of an empty office building into its new downtown offices, with more than 1,200 employees, at 551 N. Fifth St. That five-story, 350,000-square-foot building has its main entrance just south of Michigan Street.

Fiserv Inc. in March opened its new headquarters at HUB640, 640 N. Phillips Ave., where the company is leasing 168,000 square feet. The office, to eventually have 780 employees, will include a Michigan Street entrance.

The redesigned street has Fiserv's support, said Chief Financial Officer Bob Hau.

"With our employees now in downtown, we want them to have pedestrian and bike-friendly options when commuting to and from the office and getting around the city," Hau said.

Also, Kenosha-based Bear Development LLC and Jim Kacmarcik, who owns Grafton-based Kacmarcik Enterprises, are pursuing plans to develop a hotel, and a soccer stadium to house a minor league USL Championship team.

Known as the Iron District, that project is planned for a site west of North Sixth Street and south of West Michigan Street.

Michigan Street's improvements are being funded through new property tax revenue generated by the Fiserv development at HUB640.

That tax incremental financing district was created by the Common Council and Mayor Johnson mainly to help pay for the Fiserv office renovations at the former Boston Store building.

But part of that cash is paying for nearby public improvements, including the street work.

The project is "a long overdue redesign of a critical downtown street," said Ald. Robert Bauman, whose district includes downtown.

Project proceeds as nearby I-794's future remains uncertain

The Michigan Street project is proceeding even as city officials await a decision on the future of Interstate 794, which runs parallel just over a block south.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation this year will narrow its proposals for a section of I-794 between the Hoan Bridge and just west of the Milwaukee River.

The agency last year released seven conceptual plans to repair that stretch of I-794 and two proposals to remove it. WisDOT plans to choose a preferred alternative by the end of 2024.

Downtown business interests, as well as officials from St. Francis, Cudahy and South Milwaukee, fear removing part of I-794 would clog Michigan Street and other nearby roads and greatly lengthen commutes.

Freeway removal supporters say the streets can handle the change, which would open 15 to 18 acres for commercial development − and tear down a barrier between downtown, the lakefront and the Third Ward.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, X and Facebook.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Michigan Street in downtown Milwaukee will get protected bike lanes