Active Streets Program Returns To Estabrook Parkway For 2021

SHOREWOOD, WI — Following Milwaukee's active streets program, Estabrook Parkway is again closed to through traffic for the 2021 season, according to the Village of Shorewood website.

Active streets are roadways only accessible to local traffic. People can freely walk and bike down active streets, but vehicle traffic is not allowed. Estabrook Parkway was included last year in the active streets program and has been barricaded again for 2021.

Parking lots at the north and south ends of Estabrook Parkway will remain accessible for park and beer garden visitors, but the middle stretch of the street will be only open for bicycle and foot traffic.

Last year's active street designation lasted at Estabrook Parkway into autumn. The program this year will remove barriers sometime between late October and mid-November.

The active streets program opens up areas otherwise used by car traffic for walking, biking, running and exercising. Many of the streets are within Milwaukee, but parks around Milwaukee, such as Estabrook, have also adopted the initiative.

The program was a pilot study in 2020 prompted by the goal of providing people with more space to stretch out amid pandemic restrictions. Besides Estabrook Parkway, the program returns to a few streets in Milwaukee for 2021 as part of a three-phase project, according to the Milwaukee Department of Public Works website.

Following the 2020 pilot study, the city of Milwaukee found in a survey that 72 percent of respondents supported continuing the program beyond the pandemic.