Village of Germantown Trail Master Plan

GRAEF worked with the Village of Germantown to develop a Trail Master Plan that provides transportation and recreation opportunities across the Village and to regional destinations. The Plan identified detailed routes for the Menomonee River Trail and Goldendale Creek Trails, extending several miles of existing trails in the region through Germantown to help complete the “Route of the Badger,” a regional vision for Southeast Wisconsin to connect communities with high quality, comfortable, all ages and abilities bike and pedestrian routes. These routes will provide scenic access to the environmental corridors and waterways within Germantown, bringing people from across the region closer to Germantown’s natural environment. Where possible, trails were sited as close to “touching the water” as possible, with alternate routes identified to ensure connectivity should barriers arise during trail development.

The Master Plan also provided routing and designs for six major roadway corridors to further connect the trail system. These sidepath trails will provide multi-modal connections continuously across the Village where no continuous routes currently exist. For each trail recommendation, an evaluation and prioritization framework was developed to identify priority trail segments and trail amenities based upon criteria agreed upon with the Village (such as available funding, relationship to existing projects, and addressing critical gaps in the existing bike/pedestrian network). A phasing plan was developed for all trail segments, including priority trails. Priority trail segments were detailed with (1) clear actions steps; (2) performance metrics; (3) partnership opportunities; (4) funding opportunities; and (5) policy impacts and adaptations.

Conceptual trail facility designs were provided for different trail segments where roadways, environmental features, and waterways must be crossed. These designs included elevated boardwalks over sensitive environmental features, bridges, and intersections. Cost opinions were provided for each trail recommendation, inclusive of special trail features, crossings, different construction material options, and trail amenities such as trail heads to assist with capital budgeting and decision making.