Kick Off to Spring Biking Season, City Invites Public to Celebrate its New Autumn Ridge Path
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The public is invited to a ribbon-cutting at 9 a.m., April 16, 2025 on Madison’s east side to celebrate the City’s newest multi-use path, Autumn Ridge. The ribbon cutting will be located at 4346 Commercial Avenue, Madison, Wis.
The Autumn Ridge Path creates a shared-use path connection between Milwaukee St. and Commercial Ave (north of Highway 30), including a new bridge over Highway 30. The project improves safety and accessibility for non-motorized modes of transportation to cross Highway 30, better connecting neighborhoods on either side of the highway. The Autumn Ridge Path expands the greater bike network of the area, as the path connects (via local streets) to the existing overpass over Stoughton Rd (Highway 51) at Portland Pkwy, through the Eastmorland neighborhood to the recently constructed Garver Path, and finally to the Capital City Trail and Downtown Madison-area. Long term plans include extending this path network further to the northeast.
Starting from the south-end of the project, the Autumn Ridge Path includes reconstruction of the existing path through Hiestand Park (to improve and widen the path to 10 feet). The Path continues through the Engineering-owned greenway property east of Hiestand Park, and then connects via Stein Ave (a local, low-volume street) to a new path segment through an existing greenway adjacent to the Thompson Rd ramp off Highway 30. The Path continues adjacent to the Thompson Road ramp, climbing in elevation until it reaches the new bridge overpass over Highway 30, and then loops down on the north-side of the highway, connecting onto Ziegler Rd, another local, low-volume street that connects to existing paths within Sycamore Park.
Funding
The Autumn Ridge Path was funded by a substantial federal grant ($2.5 million), which covered the majority of the project costs, the remaining costs were made up with local City funding ($2 million). The project began construction in early-June 2024, with the most significant part of this project being the new bridge overpass over Highway 30, which includes three prefabricated trusses over Highway 30 and Commerical Ave, as well as a multi-span loop on the north-side bridge approach. The entire project is substantially complete and open for public-use, some smaller finishing items by the Contractor will occur this Spring, but the new path will remain open.
The ribbon cutting event is open to the public. If media plans to attend, please RSVP to Hannah Mohelnitzky via email.
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