History
The Milwaukee Electric Railway ran a passenger line between Milwaukee and Sheboygan from 1905 to 1948. The company became part of Wisconsin Electric (now We Energies), and the land was retained by that company after the railway ceased operation. Some segments of the right-of-way were turned into bike paths in 1975. In 1998, the county and several of its communities received state funding to build the trail. Much of the land for the trail is leased from the power company. Much of the trail was built on old railroad beds, so little work was needed to convert the land to a bike trail. A bridge over the Milwaukee River in Grafton was completed in March 2002.
A 415-foot bridge over Interstate 43 and County Highway W in the Town of Grafton was completed in late September 2009 at a cost of $1.76 million. 20% was funded by private donations, while the remaining 80% was funded by the state. Though it was expected to be built in the summer of 2006, the state Department of Transportation imposed design changes that boosted the cost of the bridge by $650,000. The changes were based on the DOT's decision that the bridge needed to be handicap accessible.
In Sheboygan County, the initial stretch of the Interurban Trail between the Ozaukee - Sheboygan County line to Cedar Grove was constructed in 2005. The next portion of the Trail between Cedar Grove and Oostburg was constructed in 2007. There are also plans to extend the Trail from the Village of Oostburg into the City of Sheboygan via Kohler Andrae State Park; thus connecting the Ozaukee Interurban Trail with Sheboygan's existing urban bikeway network, and with the Old Plank Road Trail, which stretches west from the City of Sheboygan to the Village of Greenbush, a distance of about 17 miles. Long term plans are to extend the Interurban Trail from Sheboygan, north about 65 miles to Green Bay and connect it to other points west and north via existing trails.
Read more about this topic: Ozaukee Interurban Trail
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