In 2002, the State of Wisconsin’s "Year of the Trail",
Ozaukee County in partnership with eight local communities, is celebrating the
grand opening of its new Ozaukee Interurban Trail. The Ozaukee
Interurban Trail is a 30-mile, paved, mostly off-road, multi-use
transportation and recreation trail that crosses the County from north to
south passing through eight of
Ozaukee County’s sixteen communities. The Trail not only accommodates all
season, non-motor vehicle recreational uses such as: hiking, walking, running,
biking, rollerbladding, wildlife viewing, and skiing, but also is an integral
feature in connecting Ozaukee County’s commuters to places of employment,
business, industry, historic places and commerce. In fact, the Ozaukee
Interurban Trail is a key element in Ozaukee County’s overall transportation
plan for the County.
Actually, the route of the Ozaukee Interurban Trail is not
new at all. As the name suggests, the right-of-way the trail uses is primarily
that of the historic interurban railway that connected Ozaukee’s communities
with Milwaukee. In 1922, the right-of-way was acquired by The Milwaukee
Electric Railway and Light Company (TMER & L) for development of an improved
rapid transit service from Milwaukee to Sheboygan. The Northern Route, the
interurban electric railway from Milwaukee to Sheboygan since 1908, had stops
in the mostly rural communities of Brown Deer, Thiensville, Cedarburg,
Grafton, Port Washington, Belgium, Cedar Grove, Oostburg and Sheboygan. The
rapid transit was an electric railway system linking Milwaukee and many of the
surrounding communities to the north, west and south from its inception in
1905 to the end of all operations in 1951. During its operation, the Northern
Route of the interurban line was also made famous for transporting
African-American blues musicians to the main recording studio for Paramount
Records recording label in Port Washington and ultimately in Grafton,
Wisconsin. The idea of African-American artists from the rural South traveling
to Grafton, Wisconsin in the late 1920s and early 1930s by taking the
"electric train" seems fantastic. After the TMER & L acquired the right-of-way
lands in 1922, it began an ambitious improvements project for many of the
lines including the Northern Route that ran through Ozaukee County to
Sheboygan. Much of these improvements and realignments that were to be
realized happened by 1934. In 1938, the TMER & L reorganized into The
Milwaukee Electric Railway and Transit Company (TMER & T); however, the rapid
transit system was increasingly losing ridership to the automobile. The
economic situation and World War II only temporarily halted this decline.
Ridership on the interurban railway lines actually increased during World War
II only to realize significant decreases following the War. These decreases
lead to the abandonment of the Northern Route north of Port Washington in
1940. In 1946, the remaining Port Washington interurban line was sold by TMER
& T to the Kenosha Motor Coach Lines. Between 1940 and 1948, the Port
Washington interurban line serviced Ozaukee County, but on March 29, 1948 the
Port Washington line was terminated, which brought an end to the former
Northern Route to Sheboygan.
With the completion of the paved 30-mile Ozaukee Interurban
Trail, trail users will be able to retrace connections from the past coming
from southern Milwaukee County (e.g. Oak Leaf Trail) or from as far west as
the Mississippi River on a combination of State (e.g. Hank Aaron State Trail)
and County trail systems. Eventually, the Ozaukee Interurban Trail will
connect to the City of Sheboygan to the north on the interurban historic
right-of-way and with the Old Plank Road Trail in Sheboygan County heading
west. Hopefully, one day the Ozaukee Interurban Trail will be a part of a
continuous trail route from Green Bay to Chicago using these old railway
right-of-ways.
The concept for the Ozaukee Interurban Trail has been
around for a number of years. The County and some municipalities established
the initial segments (6 miles in the Cities of Mequon, Cedarburg and Port
Washington to be followed by an additional segment in the Village of Grafton)
of the Trail along this right-of-way in 1975; however, the concept for the
entire trail became a reality thanks to several determined individuals who got
behind the idea and pushed for its development. After several years in the
conceptual stage, a County study committee was formed in 1997 to develop the
feasibility of a countywide trail. Soon after the committee was established,
an agreement with WE Energies, the current landowner of the right-of-way, the
award of a 1998 Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WDOT) Congestion
Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) grant and the continued
intergovernmental cooperation of all the communities made the concept a
reality. In 1998, Ozaukee County, as well as each of the incorporated
municipalities in the County, received separate WDOT CMAQ grants to complete
the Ozaukee Interurban Trail. As part of intergovernmental cooperation, these
individual grants were rolled together to establish a single grant for the
uniform guidance of a countywide trail.
Upon receipt of the grant funding, Ozaukee County
established an
Ozaukee Interurban Trail Advisory Council, approximately 35 members, to
assist in the planning and implementation of the Trail. The Advisory Council’s
mission is to promote the safe public use of the
Ozaukee Interurban Trail for transportation, recreation, health, education,
economic development, and enjoyment of Ozaukee County’s unique cultural,
historical and natural resources. The Advisory Council is a diverse
representation of all areas of the community including: chamber of commerce
representatives, business owners, elected officials, governmental staff, bike
club representatives, concerned citizens, sheriff’s department
representatives, park commission members, University of Extension
representatives, bird club members and landowners. The Advisory Council has
also established several committees to serve as "working groups" to assist in
the implementation of the Trail, including the following committees: Rules and
Ordinance Development, Logo Development, Public Meetings, Trailside
Facilities, Website Development, Public Relations and Marketing, Trail
Clean-up, Trail Watch, Opening Ceremonies and Intergovernmental Cooperation.
Among many of the accomplishments of the Advisory Council was its work to get
the Ozaukee Interurban Trail designated as one of the first "Great Wisconsin
Birding Trails" in the State of Wisconsin and the development of a uniform
logo for the Trail. As a Great Wisconsin Birding Trail, the Ozaukee Interurban
Trail Advisory Council will be working with the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources Bureau of Endangered Resources and its partners to identify
quality habitat and "birding hotspots" for wildlife viewing along the Trail.
The logo for the Trail draws heavily upon the historic past of the interurban
railway with the outside shape and yellow-green coloring of the interurban
rail cars, three of the permitted uses on the trail, bicycling, running, and
skiing, are displayed in the windows of the interurban rail car and the "rail
catcher" for the rail car is the diamond on the bottom of the rail car
reminiscent of the logo used by TMER & L. In addition, the nameplate on the
top of the rail car logo will display the name of the community the trail is
passing through in the County or "Wisconsin" for general use. As the logo is
incorporated into the signs along the trail, users of the trail will instantly
be able to tell which community they are passing through.
