MILWAUKEE — The first extension of Milwaukee’s streetcar, The Hop, should be in service by the time the city hosts the Democratic National Convention, and a short second extension connecting the system to the city’s convention center is in the planning stage and should also be ready for convention crowds.
Urban Milwaukee reports that work will begin in September on the planned 0.3-mile extension to the convention center, which will connect to the current western end of the line near the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. An additional extension, to connect the system to the Fiserv Forum, the arena which will host the Democratic convention, is under discussion. The city has set aside $20 million for that project, although it failed to win a hoped-for federal grant for an additional $20 million in December 2018.
Work will resume in June on the first extension to the Hop, a loop to the lakefront, most of which has already been built. It is scheduled to open in 2020.
The 2.1-mile first phase of the Hop system opened in November 2018.
