I-94 expansion is a go, but I-794 debate looms
$1.2 billion approved to widen west side Milwaukee freeway
One of southeastern Wisconsin’s largest freeway projects in several years, the expansion of Interstate 94 on Milwaukee’s west side, is to begin work in 2025 − even as its opponents hope to see another nearby freeway dismantled.
The $1.2 billion (in 2021 dollars) project will widen I-94 from six lanes to eight lanes between 16th and 70th streets. It has received final federal approval, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced Friday.
The multiyear project is needed to reduce congestion and improve safety, according to WisDOT.
That includes providing a reliable link within the state’s freeway system for trucks that haul freight throughout Wisconsin and other states, according to business groups, construction labor unions and other supporters.
Opponents say the 60-year-old
stretch of freeway can be rebuilt and made safer without the additional lanes — which they say aren’t justified based on WisDOT’s traffic counts and projections. The agency’s cost estimates for that alternative range from $1.13 billion to $1.16 billion.
People opposing the expansion say the project’s benefits favor suburban commuters over Black and Brown people living near the freeway — many of whom don’t own cars.
They also say there should be a bigger focus on public transit and protected bike lanes to reduce auto emissions that add to global warming.
The opposition includes environmental groups, urbanists and social justice organizations.
New debate coming over I-794 later this year
Some of those same players will continue another freeway debate this summer and fall as WisDOT narrows its proposals for a nearby section of I-794 between the Hoan Bridge and just west of the Milwaukee River.
The agency last year released seven conceptual plans to repair that stretch of I-794 and two plans to remove it. WisDOT plans to choose a preferred
alternative by the end of 2024.
Final design work is to occur in 2025 and 2026, with construction work from 2027 through 2030 if the $300 million project obtains federal and state funding.
Downtown business interests, as well as officials from St. Francis, Cudahy and South Milwaukee, fear removing part of I-794 would clog nearby surface streets and greatly lengthen commutes.
Freeway removal supporters say the streets can handle the change, which would open 15 to 18 acres for commercial development − and tear down a barrier between downtown, the lakefront and the Third Ward.
The freeway sections that would be repaired date to 1974. They weren’t touched when part of I-794 was reconstructed from 2013 through 2016 — a $239 million project that included rebuilding the Hoan Bridge’s concrete deck.
None of WisDOT’s plans call for removing the Hoan.
Stadium Freeway future also under review
Those seeking I-794’s removal also are waiting for WisDOT to finish its study of whether Highway 175/Stadium Freeway north of I-94, between Wisconsin and Lisbon avenues, should be replaced with an at-grade boulevard.
The study, announced in 2022, is to be completed this year.
Replacing the freeway with atgrade streets would create opportunities to build new housing and other development.
Also, a boulevard linking those new projects to American Family Field could help encourage developing part of the stadium’s parking lots.
Legislation signed in December by Gov. Tony Evers to publicly fund the ballpark’s long-term capital improvements includes a provision requiring its owner, the Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, to study the parking area’s development potential.