WisDOT Getting Closer to I-794 Project Recommendations

I-794 removal concept #2. WisDOT.

If the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) took down a one-mile stretch of  Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee, what would it look like? Based on recent comments made by project managers from WisDOT and the engineering consultant HNTB, they have some idea.

WisDOT has two preliminary design concepts for potential removal of the portion of I-794 running through Downtown. A project consultant noted that one of these concepts appears the “most feasible” of the two during a presentation to the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Transportation and Transit Tuesday.

The I-794 project is estimated to cost $300 million. WisDOT is currently developing design alternatives for rebuilding, improving and tearing down this stretch of freeway. It has already developed nine high-level, preliminary designs. The chief reason for the I-794 project is to address the “aging infrastructure” of the freeway, which was built in the mid-1970s, said David Pittman, a project manager with WisDOT.

The high-level removal concept presented to supervisors Tuesday is identified on the state agency’s project website at Freeway Removal Concept #2. Of the two, this one has appeared the “most feasible,” according to Mike Ernst, a project manager from engineering consultant HNTB. Ernst was careful to note, “we haven’t made the final decision yet on exactly which… we’re going to carry forward.”

If this stretch of freeway was removed, a four-lane boulevard version of Clybourn Street would take its place. Under the concept shown to supervisors Tuesday, the west end of the Clybourn boulevard would begin at 6th Street, just east of the Marquette Interchange. The freeway would remain as an elevated structure, gradually coming down to street grade and ending at 3rd Street. Those seeking to take I-794 would need to take Clybourn for about 10 blocks to the Lincoln Memorial Dr. entrance to the Hoan Bridge and I-794.

“One of the reasons that we show the concept the way it is, is predicated on the streetcar maintenance facility [450 N. 5th St.],” Ernst said, explaining that the goal is to “increase utilization of the surface street network and reduce overall intersection size while also avoiding impacts to the maintenance facility.”

All that said, WisDOT has not yet advanced recommended design alternatives. The state transportation agency is working on those alternatives now, which will include at least one design for rebuilding the freeway stretch as it exists, rebuilding it with design improvements and for removal.

South Shore Supervisor Objects

Sup. Steven Shea, who represents south shore communities like St. Francis, Cudahy and South Milwaukee, told the I-794 project team that he would not like to see the freeway torn down.

“My constituents have let me know that they won’t tolerate freeway removal,” he said. “That’s just a non-starter.”

His constituents don’t just use the freeway to access Downtown, but areas west of Downtown and the City of Milwaukee, the supervisor said. If the freeway is removed, his constituents will go over to I-94, increasing traffic and congestion, Shea said.

Yet he also said this stretch of I-794 through Downtown likely doesn’t need its current footprint. Still, he said, “I want to see some kind of preservation of 794.”