KENOSHA, WISCONSIN 



The city of Kenosha is located in Kenosha County, about 30 miles 

 south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 50 miles north of Chicago Illinois. 

 It has a shore frontage on Lake Michigan of about 4§ miles, of which 

 about 75 percent comprises parks owned by the city. The remainder of 

 the above frontage is used for industrial and residential purposes. The 

 city and county have populations of 54,400 and 75,200 respectively. 

 North of the harbor entrance, the shore is backed by low bluffs with a 

 maximum height of about 25 feet. Beaches range from to 180 feet 

 in width. A groin system has helped accumulate a beach at one park and 

 another beach has accumulated at the north jetty of the harbor. The 

 harbor works consist of parallel jetties and a detached breakwater to 

 protect the entrance. South of the harbor the shore has partly been 

 formed by breakwaters and fills. The remainder has been protected by 

 walls, bulkheads and revetments. 



Lake Michigan is over 300 miles long and about 80 miles wide. The 

 mean lake level for the period 1900 to 1953 was 1.4 feet above the 

 established low water datum. The highest monthly mean recorded was 

 3.8 feet above mean lake level and 5.2 feet above low water datum. Short 

 period fluctuations up to about 2 feet are caused by winds and differences 

 in barometric pressure. The design lake stage is 5 feet above low water 

 datum. Of winds which generate waves affecting the area, those from the 

 north and northeast have the greatest fetcn, about 260 miles. During 

 severe storms with a frequency of about once a year, waves may range up 

 to 13 feet in height in deep water, but ordinarily waves of this height 

 would break before reaching shore structures. Storm waves which cause 

 the greatest movement of beach material are those from the northeast. 

 The predominant direction of littoral drift is southward, but practically 

 no material moves along the shore south of the jettied entrance to 

 Kenosha Harbor. The small streams entering the lake in Kenosha County 

 furnish little material to the shore. 



The Division and District Engineers and the Beach Erosion Board con- 

 cluded that the most suitable plans for preventing erosion and stabiliz- 

 ing the shores of Kenosha consist of the following: 



Alford Park r Maintenance of existing groin system. 



Pennoyer Park - Stone revetment for 650-foot reach of shore. 



Lake View Park - Reconstruct 1,620 feet of old breakwater. 



Simmons Island Park - Reconstruct and extend southerly the rubble 



mound to protect 425 feet of shore. An 

 alternative plan of steel sheet pile wall 

 may be used for the southerly 125 feet of 

 this reach. 



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