Million-dollar bike trail span work could begin next year

Work on a bicycle bridge over Cedar Creek in the Village of Grafton could be done next year as part of the Highway 60 reconstruction, Ozaukee County supervisors were told last week.

The bridge would be part of an extension of the Ozaukee Interurban Trail from First Avenue in Grafton west to the Five Corners area in Cedarburg.

The county Natural Resources Committee voted last week to recommend to the County Board to accept a state Transportation Alternatives Program grant  for $869,000 to build the bridge over Cedar Creek adjacent to Highway 60.

The grant requires a 20% match of $217,250, which will be provided from county capital funds,  private donations and other grants for a total project cost of $1.08 million.

County Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck said he thought the bridge and trail construction will begin next year and coincide with work being done on Highway 60. The project is expected to be completed in 2029.

At the same meeting, the committee voted to apply for a $300,000 National Park Service grant for the project. It will be matched with $300,000 from the county capital reserves.

In June 2024, plans were approved to extend the bike trail from First Avenue in the village to Five Corners and coordinate its design and construction with the state Department of Transportation.

But additional design work was required on the highway part, throwing off the bike trail schedule because it was being paid for by a state grant that had to be spent before the repaving could be completed.

Building the trail extension before the highway would have meant portions of the bike trail would have to be torn up a year after it was built.

But this summer the state agreed to extend the deadline for spending the money, which allows the trail to again be designed and built in coordination with the Highway 60 repaving.

The Grafton-to-Cedarburg spur is an extension to the 30-mile Ozaukee Interurban Trail, which stretches the length of the county from Milwaukee County to Sheboygan County, following the path of the old Interurban Electric Railway.