Could Milwaukee Freeway Project Be Revived?
Walker killed E-W freeway project, but Evers could revive it.
A friend recently called while driving home from work to a western Milwaukee suburb. When I asked how traffic was on Milwaukee’s East-West I-94 he laughed and explained that he uses “city streets” (in this case North Avenue). He said the freeway most often resembles “a parking lot” at what is euphemistically known as rush hour.
More and more, this condition on one of the state’s most heavily traveled sections of highway will represent the new normal. It reflects Governor Scott Walker’s decision, announced to a northern Wisconsin media audience in 2016, to forego SE Wisconsin freeway reconstruction “for the foreseeable future.” (The Governor subsequently flipped when it came to the N-S segment of I-94 adjacent to Foxconn. During the same timeframe that he advanced the N-S work he took the stunning step of backing out of E-W I-94 upgrades initiated by him early in his administration.)
The geeky. The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) would need to reinstate its crucial “Record of Decision” approving the project. It rescinded the approval at Walker’s request, about a year after Walker had urged FHA to OK the work. That rescission put at risk about $25 million in environmental and engineering work initiated by Walker in the early years of his administration. For the FHA to act it needs a political signal from the state.
The political. Governor-elect Tony Evers needs to decide the E-W project is worth reviving. One of several obstacles is anti-Milwaukee sentiment on transportation that Governor Walker has fostered out state. And in Milwaukee itself Evers would need a meeting of the minds with his ally, Mayor Tom Barrett, who has not favored the project. A commitment by the new Evers administration to strengthen the state’s mass transit role might be one piece of a broader agreement. Local groups that have litigated against the project have made inadequate mass transit support a central part of their case.
The broader significance of the E-W project’s fate is hard to overstate. With the N-S I-94 project now financed, much of the remaining work on SE Wisconsin freeways is in Milwaukee and western and northern portions of metro Milwaukee. If Governor-elect Evers can’t get the E-W back on track, how will he justify and attract political support for other elements of the essential reconstruction program?
The alternative to re-establishing a political coalition behind SE Wisconsin freeway work is an ongoing series of temporary repaving projects along the existing right-of-way. This is what’s going on now in the I-894 loop around western and southern Milwaukee. The price tag for such work will grow to the hundreds of millions. That money will come from the account of dollars otherwise available for out state projects.
The status quo can’t please the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, Foxconn, or the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. The question now is whether Evers, the business community, and Mayor Barrett can forge a deal that would produce enough legislative support to rewrite this chapter of the Scott Walker transportation legacy.
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More about the I-94 East-West Expansion
- Op Ed: Rebuild I-94 in Milwaukee - John Raines, John Schmitt, Terry McGowan and Tony Mayrhofer - Feb 20th, 2021
- Coalition Opposes I-94 Expansion Project - Coalition for More Responsible Transportation - Feb 17th, 2021
- Construction Business Group Supports Governor Evers’ State Budget Proposal - Construction Business Group - Feb 17th, 2021
- Labor Leaders Voice Support For The I-94 East-West Corridor Project - Press Release - Feb 16th, 2021
- Transportation: Council Disagrees on I-94 Expansion - Jeramey Jannene - Feb 9th, 2021
- Transportation: City Pushing Back On Interstate 94 Expansion, Not Reconstruction - Jeramey Jannene - Feb 1st, 2021
- Ald. Bauman introduces resolution directing the City to lobby against I-94 reconstruction - Ald. Bob Bauman - Jan 21st, 2021
- Transportation: Interstate 94 Expansion Gets Cold Reception at City Hall - Jeramey Jannene - Jan 7th, 2021
- Op Ed: We Oppose I-94 Expansion - Cassie Steiner, Gregg May, Megan Severson, Lester Williams and Cheryl Nenn - Nov 18th, 2020
- Op Ed: Don’t Expand I-94 - James Davies - Jul 18th, 2020
Read more about I-94 East-West Expansion here
More lanes will only encourage more sprawl and more cars — at an enormous cost to taxpayers. Government should not be subsidizing this type of growth.
More concrete is not the cure. A vehicle registration fee system is needed that provides financial insentives for vehicle buyers to purchase smaller, lighter weight vehicles. More vehicles could then travel the existing system without increasing the amount of concrete. The lighter weight per vehicle would extend the life of the roadways.
The number of total passenger vehicles has been decreasing annually for years in addition to an increase in the number of people seeking to live in the city.
Mr. Mitchell’s friend should continue to use his alternate route or follow the crowd from the suburbs to the metropolitan hub.
Agreed to the above comments. We need mass transit not more lanes. The BRT will help if we have incentives for riding- and disincentives for keeping to your self contained pollution device. Might we inconvenience people? We can create a more human transit system than continuing to degrade our planet with extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Also: Work in Milwaukee? Live in MIlwaukee.