Rerouting, repaving to close parts of bike trail

A portion of the Ozaukee Interurban Trail on Port Washington’s north side will be closed intermittently for the next two weeks.

The bike trail at Highland Drive and Highland Lane is being rebuilt as a left-turn lane for motorists is added at the intersection, City Engineer Roger Strohm said Tuesday.

The roadwork is forcing the city to move the bike trail, Strohm said.

Handicapped access will be created there, and eventually a rapid-flashing beacon will also be placed at the intersection, Strohm said.

The bike trail will be closed from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. when construction work is being done, City Administrator Melissa Gossett said, but the trail will be open during the evening and on weekends, when there is no construction.

“If they’re not actively doing construction, it should be passable,” Strohm said. “But I wouldn’t recommend going through there at 25 mph on an electric bike.”

The construction should take about two weeks to complete, he said.

Gossett said the closings will be posted on the website https://www.interurbantrail.com and on the Interurban Trail’s Facebook page.

This is not the only work that will be done on the bike trail in the City of Port this year.

Earlier this year, the Common Council approved repaving a portion of the trail on the city’s far south side as part of an Ozaukee County project to improve the Interurban Trail.

As part of that project, the Interurban Trail will be closed from East Sauk Road to Highway LL, Strohm said.

The county is in the process of scheduling the work, he said, adding he expects it will be done in late summer.

The 30-mile Interurban Trail, which runs the length of Ozaukee County, primarily follows the route of the Interurban Electric Railway, which ran from Milwaukee to Sheboygan.

Today, the walking, biking and hiking trail draws hundreds of residents and visitors to the area every year, making it an important part of the area’s economy.