Street Repaving and Rebuilds

The City of Milwaukee is responsible for more than 4,600 lane miles of streets. A 2022 survey rated about a quarter of them in poor condition, and most of those are quiet neighborhood streets. The Department of Public Works (DPW) estimates it would cost about $821 million to bring every poor street up to good condition.

How streets are chosen. DPW rates every street's surface, and it re-checks the whole city about every eight years. It also looks at what crews see in the field and what residents report.

Two kinds of work. The cheaper fix, called High Impact paving, puts a new layer of asphalt on top of the old street. It costs about one-third as much as rebuilding, and it covers about 13 to 15 miles a year. For this program the city usually picks busy connecting streets and streets in shopping areas, so the most drivers benefit. A full rebuild tears out the old street. The city budget pays for rebuilding about 4 miles a year.

How it is paid for. Busy main streets often get state and federal aid. Neighborhood streets mostly do not, so the city pays for them from its capital budget, the part of the budget for building and fixing things. The city also gets help from a $30 vehicle registration fee and a small state grant. Until 2008, owners of houses along a street were charged for part of its repaving. The city replaced those charges with the vehicle fee. Owners still pay part of some work, like rebuilding the alley behind their homes.

How the votes work. Each year the Common Council votes on batches of projects. On SHIFT MKE, files that start engineering are titled "Plans street repairs at many locations," and files that approve construction are titled "Approves street repairs at many locations." Each batch can also include sewer, sidewalk, and other work. Files marked "owners pay part" include work that neighbors are charged for, and those get a public hearing first.

The big rebuilds. Some streets get more than new pavement. When a street is torn out and rebuilt, its whole layout can change: the number of lanes, bike lanes, crossings, and trees. These are the biggest ones now:

West Lisbon Avenue. 2.1 miles from North 100th Street to West Burleigh Street. The road goes from four lanes to two, with raised bike lanes separated from traffic and roundabouts at 84th and 92nd streets. Construction began in April 2025 and should finish in fall 2026. Federal money pays 80 percent and the city pays the rest.

West National Avenue. From South 1st Street to South 39th Street, rebuilt in three phases: 27th to 39th in 2026, 1st to 11th in 2027, and the part in between in 2028. It gets raised bike lanes and costs about $50 million. National Avenue is also state highway WIS 59, so the state is involved.

6th Street Next. A plan to redesign 2.6 miles of 6th Street, from National Avenue to North Avenue, possibly with raised, protected bike lanes. The city won a $36.56 million federal grant in 2024, but most of it was taken back in July 2025 under H.R. 1, a federal budget law. A separate $2.1 million federal agreement still pays for early design. No construction date is set.

WIS 175. A six-lane freeway spur between Wisconsin Avenue and Lisbon Avenue, built in 1962. From 2022 to 2025, WisDOT, Milwaukee County, and the city studied four options: rebuild it as it is, or end it near the north, middle, or south of the corridor and use city streets for the rest. The final report, dated October 24, 2025, did not choose one.