2010 Opening Planned for Trail’s Next Phase
By Lee Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
May 29–The Hank Aaron State Trail should open in 2010 from Miller Park west to W. 94th Place, but a completion date for the remainder of the trail to the Waukesha County line is less certain because of Zoo Interchange reconstruction.
On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Board approved the latest plans for the trail, which will connect the lakefront to the Oak Leaf Trail system and to access trails into Waukesha County.
The trail currently runs from the lakefront and through the Menomonee Valley to Miller Park.
The next segment will swing south of Miller Park and the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center along the old Canadian Pacific Rail line to the Milwaukee County Zoo and to the county line. In 2006, the state Department of Natural Resources purchased 5 1/2 miles of the rail corridor for $4.5 million.
The DNR has eliminated plans for the Aaron trail to move north of the ballpark, where it would have passed through Doyne and Jacobus parks in Wauwatosa.
The new plan includes the conversion of a shuttered pedestrian tunnel — once used by workers in the valley — to an open walkway and a bridge across the Menomonee River. The bridge would be east of the ballpark.
The cost of the next phase of the trail has not been estimated, said Melissa Cook, a trail manager with the DNR, in part because of rising asphalt prices.
Construction plans for the Zoo Interchange also have cast uncertainty over when the complete Aaron trail will be finished. Work on the interchange is expected to start in 2012.
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