County Committee Backs I-94 ‘Fix at Six’

A committee of the Milwaukee County Board approved a resolution Tuesday opposing the planned expansion of Interstate 94 between 70th and 16th streets and advocating for the “Fix at Six” proposal that calls for making fixes to the freeway without expanding it.

The resolution was authored by Sup. Peter Burgelis. “The most important piece of this I-94 project is that the freeway needs to be redesigned,” Burgelis told his colleagues on the board’s Committee on Transportation and Transit.

Burgelis, and most of the members of the public that offered comment at the meeting, argued that widening the interstate would not solve congestion, and that it was not even needed given the current and projected levels of traffic in the corridor. The supervisor and supporters of his resolution also argued that widened roadways do not actually relieve traffic congestion but induce increased use and higher speeds. The safety trouble along this stretch of freeway is a design problem, an example being the left lane off ramps, that expansion isn’t necessary to solve, they argued.

The “Fix at Six” plan for the interstate came from a group of community organizations called the Coalition For More Responsible Transportation. The plan would welcome a rebuilt freeway that improves safety, but not an additional lane. Joyce Ellwanger of Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), which is a member of the coalition, noted that the “Fix at Six” is not the same plan as the six-lane proposal from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). Rather, she said, it’s a different plan that was designed by a transportation planner who formerly worked for the New Jersey Department of Transportation, Mark Stout.

WisDOT announced early in November that it planned to move forward with its $1.2 billion expansion of the interstate, which would also include a replacement of the stadium interchange near American Family Field with a diverging diamond design.

“Safety is our agency’s highest priority and doing nothing about this section of I-94 is not an option,” WisDOT Secretary Craig Thompson said when the agency announced its decision. Brian Bliesner, WisDOT project development chief, represented WisDOT at the county committee and echoed Thompson’s statements about safety. “One of the main reasons we chose the eight lanes is because we think it’s a safer alternative as compared to existing [design] and to the six lanes.” Bliesner said the expanded roadway would make it easier to implement the new “geometric standards” for roadway design.

The interstate expansion project was originally proposed under former Gov. Scott Walker, but shelved for lack of funds. Gov. Tony Evers revived the project in 2020 based on the original plan from 2016. In 2021, WisDOT agreed to conduct a supplemental study. Meanwhile, community groups have pushed for “Fix at Six.”

Donna Brown-Martin, director of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation, said her department was still reviewing the “pretty lengthy” supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, and was not prepared to take a position on Burgelis’ resolution. She proposed the board wait to consider the resolution until after MCDOT finished reviewing the statement in January.

Burgelis’ resolution would make it the county’s policy to oppose expansion and support “Fix at Six” and the diverging diamond at the Stadium Interchange. It also makes it the county’s official position that it “denounces further State of Wisconsin destruction of Milwaukee County tax base, the displacement of businesses and residences, and the expansion of unsightly, noisy, and pollutive highways that do not pay property taxes and reduce surrounding property values.”

Bliesner told the committee that the plan’s latest design would require the state to demolish one home and six businesses. “And we really tried hard not to take that one,” he said. While WisDOT is set on its plan to expand the interstate to eight lanes, Bliesner said “there’s certainly lots of smaller decisions that will be made over the coming years as we further these designs, and those are all still subject to feedback and revision.”

MICAH has been visiting the areas that will be impacted by the project, going door to door speaking with residents, Ellwanger said. “People living along the three-and-a-half mile segment to be constructed are predominantly people of color and low income,” she said. “You’ve already heard most — many, many — do not own a car and will not benefit at all.”

These people are already “subject to intense noise and air pollution” that will be worsened by the expansion, Ellwanger said. “When we were knocking on doors. It was like you were in the middle of the freeway talking to people on their front porch, and many of them have children.”

Ellwanger said MICAH finds the WisDOT proposals — both eight and six lanes options — to be unjust and unacceptable, and urged the agency to consider the project through a racial equity lens.

And she added this warning: “As in the past, we will consider all the options including a lawsuit if that becomes necessary to make our concerns known.” 

MICAH has experience with lawsuits against WisDOT projects. Along with the Black Health Coalition, it sued the state over the Zoo Interchange project in federal court, with the support of the ACLU and Midwest Environmental Advocates. The case was resolved with a settlement agreement that required the state to provide $13.5 million for public transit in Milwaukee County.