2024 REVIEW
& UPDATE
Every four years, the Commission conducts an interim review and update of VISION 2050 to keep the plan current and address federal requirements. The Commission adopted the first interim review and update in 2020.
The purpose of the 2024 Review & Update is to determine whether it remains reasonable for plan recommendations to be accomplished by 2050 and to identify any parts of the plan that should be changed.
We welcomed comments through March 14, 2024, including during virtual public meetings, and reviewed and addressed all comments we received. We then finalized the 2024 Update with approval from the Regional Land Use and Transportation Planning Committees and the Commission adopted the plan update in June 2024.
The draft 2024 Update and documents prepared as part of the 2024 Update process are available on this page. The final 2024 Update report will be published in summer 2024 followed by a Third Edition of VISION 2050 (presented in Volume III of the plan report) later in the year.
VIRTUAL PUBLIC MEETINGS
Couldn't make one of the public meetings we hosted? View the presentation slides and recordings below to learn more about the proposed updates to VISION 2050.
VIRTUAL MEETING RECORDING
2.28.24
OVERVIEW OF
2024 UPDATE
What does the 2024 Update include?
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Review of VISION 2050 Recommendations and Implementation to Date (August 2023 Draft)
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Review of VISION 2050 Forecasts (August 2023 Draft)
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Review of Transportation System Performance (August 2023 Draft)
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Updated VISION 2050 Recommendations (May 2024 Draft)
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Updated Financial Analysis (May 2024 Draft)
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Updated Equity Analysis (May 2024 Draft)
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Review of Targets for National Performance Measures (December 2023 Draft)
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Updated Milwaukee Metro Area Peer Comparison (under development)
LAND USE
The land use component of VISION 2050 focuses on compact development and presents a development pattern and recommendations that accommodate projected growth in regional population, households, and employment in a sustainable manner. The compact development pattern recommended under VISION 2050 ranges from high-density development such as transit-oriented development (TOD), to neighborhoods in smaller communities with housing within easy walking distance of amenities such as parks, schools, and businesses.
IMPLEMENTATION
VISION 2050 recommends developing urban service areas with a mix of housing types, including multifamily housing and single-family housing on smaller lots, which helps provide affordable housing choices for households with a wide range of incomes. The plan also recommends mixing land uses to create walkable neighborhoods with housing near neighborhood amenities such as parks, schools, and businesses. Following national trends, most new housing units in the Region since 2010 have been multifamily, which tend to support the recommended development pattern. However, single-family housing development during that time period has been mostly at lower densities than recommended, with 88% of single-family lots within sewered areas being greater than 10,000 square feet.
New Housing Units,
2010-2022
SEWRPC, 9/2023
Other notable land use-related activity:
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About 95% of primary environmental corridors—areas that encompass the best remaining features of the Region’s natural landscape—are currently protected through various means.
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Transit-oriented development opportunities have increased around stations for The Hop streetcar and the new CONNECT 1 bus rapid transit line between downtown Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center.
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The Commission is preparing a Regional Food System Plan.
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Milwaukee completed a Climate and Equity Plan.
TRANSPORTATION
The transportation component of VISION 2050 includes the following six elements: public transit, bicycle and pedestrian, transportation systems management, travel demand management, arterial streets and highways, and freight transportation.
Previous financial analyses identified a funding gap for the recommended regional transportation system. The portion of the recommended transportation system that can be achieved with reasonably expected revenues is referred to as the “Fiscally Constrained Transportation System (FCTS).”
TRANSIT
VISION 2050 recognizes the many reasons why a robust public transit system is essential for Southeastern Wisconsin’s future. Among them, public transit:
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Expands capacity in heavily traveled corridors and densely developed activity centers
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Provides an alternative to congested roadways
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Can guide development by focusing jobs and housing around transit stations
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Assists residents in aging in place
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Is vital for residents without access to a car
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Can provide employers with access to a larger labor force
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Is more affordable than owning a car
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Can decrease demand for parking
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Can reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels
With these benefits in mind, the plan recommends significantly improving and expanding public transit, which would result in a more than doubling of service levels. Improvements would include rapid transit lines, commuter rail lines, and significantly expanded local bus and flexible transit services. However, transit service under the FCTS would be expected to decline due to insufficient current and reasonably expected future revenues, and limitations on how those funds can be used. Not improving and expanding transit service will likely result in significant negative consequences, particularly for those without access to a car, disproportionately impacting people of color, low-income populations, and people with disabilities.
Implementation Highlights
In recent years, the Region has experienced an overall decline in transit service levels and an even larger decline in transit ridership, impacted significantly by the pandemic and ongoing driver shortages. Changes in travel patterns and revenue associated with the pandemic have exacerbated many of the funding constraints that already existed, resulting in transit service providers eliminating routes or reducing service. On the positive side, some progress in implementing the transit element has been made. The Milwaukee County Transit System began service on the Region’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) line, CONNECT 1, and Commission staff assisted the County in completing a study for a second BRT line along the 27th Street corridor. The Region’s first on-demand microtransit service, FlexRide Milwaukee, was also initiated to connect Milwaukee residents with jobs in nearby suburbs.
Public Transit Service Levels
National Transit Database and SEWRPC, 9/2023
Passenger Boardings on Local Transit Services
Note: Includes Kenosha Area Transit, Milwaukee County Transit System, Waukesha Metro, RYDE Racine, and The Hop Streetcar.
National Transit Database and SEWRPC, 9/2023
Proposed Updates
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Consider real-time paratransit service. In 2023, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued guidance that its existing formula grant programs can be used to provide “paratransit service to eligible riders on a real-time basis and/or allow for intermediate stops” due to technology that enables flexibly scheduled service. We are proposing to revise the plan's paratransit recommendation to reflect this updated guidance.
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Highlight microtransit to improve access to suburban employment centers. In 2022, FlexRide Milwaukee opened as an on-demand transportation service connecting individuals in Milwaukee with suburban employment zones. We are proposing to revise the plan to recognize the ability of microtransit like FlexRide Milwaukee to fill gaps in the transit network and help transit riders complete the last segments of their journey to work.
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Recognize need to update the recommended transit system as studies progress and needs evolve. The 2024 Update continues to include the recommended alignment from the 2020 Update for the proposed bus rapid transit corridor along 27th Street in Milwaukee County. We will note in the plan that future environmental review and design may result in revisions to this alignment and that of other planned rapid transit routes.
Learn more about the proposed Transit changes here.