South Shore Beach in Bay View is officially open to the public again – 400 feet south of where it once was. The completion of the $8 million reconstruction project, an effort that first began in 2014, will be celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 25.
Since 2022, the beach has 27 closures as well as frequent water quality advisories, and it was often ranked one of the worst beaches nationwide, according to Milwaukee County Parks. The primary culprit was high E. coli levels in the water caused by localized runoff, stormwater, sewer overflows and animal waste.
An extensive research project, funded in full by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, started in 2014 in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Milwaukee County Parks, UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Science, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the City of Milwaukee Health Department.
The 12-year project concluded that restoring the original beach wasn’t the best option. Instead, the research team decided to relocate to a stretch of rocky shoreline just 400 feet south. After extensive monitoring, this part of the bay was found to have significantly less E. coli and water quality issues: a discovery that became the foundation for its restoration.
Construction on the new site began in October 2024, transforming a portion of the old beach into an open-plan greenspace and converting the southern shore into a sandy swimming area.
The new design is dedicated to preserving the beach’s water quality. The beach now features native vegetation, improved stormwater management, a stone wall for stabilization, larger sand grains to reduce bacteria levels, and new public access infrastructure, including trails and entry points. The beach also implemented designs and vegetation that limit wildlife activity on the site.
The beach’s layout is also intended to improve safety for visitors while contributing to a larger effort to improve conditions across the Milwaukee Estuary, which has been designated an Area of Concern since 1987 due to extensive pollution levels. Beach closings are noted as one of 11 “Beneficial Use Impairment” in the AOC designation. When Milwaukee addresses all 11 BUIs, it can begin the process of having the AOC designation removed.
