Milwaukee streetcar extension will fully open April 11

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The Milwaukee streetcar, known as The Hop, will fully open its extended route on Thursday, April 11 at 12 p.m. The extended route will go east on Michigan Avenue, stop in the ground floor of the Couture development and turn back west on Clybourn Street.

“This is a milestone years in the making and we couldn’t be more excited to finally provide streetcar service directly to Milwaukee’s lakefront,” said Jerrel Kruschke, commissioner of city public works. “The new transit concourse in the Couture will be a transformative resource for public transit in the region and a tremendous asset to our riders, who can now access all that Milwaukee’s lakefront has to offer in a safe and convenient manner. We’re looking forward to an extremely busy and exciting summer for Milwaukee and The Hop,” he added.

The L-Line opened with limited service on Oct. 29, 2023 and operated Sundays without using the lakefront station during construction at the Couture. After April 11, service will be offered seven days a week and will mirror the existing M-Line’s hours.

The new extension is nearly two miles and uses five existing streetcar stations along Milwaukee Street and Broadway, officials said. There will be three more stops along the new spur and access to the lakefront.

Much of the extension funding came from a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant awarded to the city in 2015.

The L-Line will have one streetcar operating in a figure-eight pattern going east on Michigan Street, south through the Couture, west on Clybourn Street, north on Milwaukee Street to Kilbourn Avenue and south on Broadway to St. Paul Avenue.

Riders will be able to transfer between M- and L-Lines at any of the five overlapping stations.
Nebraska-based Kiewit Contractors laid 1,000 feet of track for the new Couture station, Michigan Avenue and Clybourn Street, and they were contracted to build streetcar routes for the city before. The extension of the streetcar coincides with construction at The Couture apartment tower wrapping up as the developer plans to lease the first 30 floors this month.