Open Houses Announced For I-94 Widening

Interstate 94 freeway at N. 16th St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) will give the public two chances later this month to ask questions and share thoughts on the $1.7 billion Interstate 94 reconstruction project.

The project, a decade in the making, calls for widening the freeway to four lanes between N. 16th and N. 70th streets. It also includes a reconstruction and reconfiguration of the Stadium Interchange near American Family Field.

At the open houses, WisDOT is expected to share an updated construction schedule and updates on the project’s design, including pedestrian and bicyclist accommodations. The same information will be presented on both nights. The open houses are designed to allow those interested to come and go at their leisure. Meeting materials are expected to be released online following the meetings.

The meetings will be the first open houses the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) signed a “record of decision” in March that approved the widening. In May, WisDOT held meetings about noise barriers that could be constructed along three segments of the route, including near the Miller Valley neighborhood, along Story Parkway and west of Hawley Road.

The Coalition For More Responsible Transportation, which advocates for a “Fix at Six” option to rebuild the freeway with safety improvements and the current six lanes, opposed the FHWA’s finding in March and suggested the 3.5-mile project should be delayed for review of a civil rights complaint. Its members also suggested a lawsuit could be filed. Members of the group previously successfully challenged the Zoo Interchange project.

A schedule included in the noise barrier meeting handouts says construction would start in 2025 and be completed in 2032.

The project was initially shelved in 2017 for a lack of funding, but Governor Tony Evers resurrected the idea in 2020 and attempted to fast-track federal re-approval of a 2016 plan. In April 2021, state officials agreed to conduct a supplemental study to examine other options or traffic pattern changes. That supplementary process officially concluded on March 8 with the FHWA’s “record of decision” approving the expansion plan.

According to the WisDOT study, the six-lane option would cost between 3% to 6% ($105 million in the latest public estimate) less. The actual ‘Fix at Six’ plan authored by transportation planner Mark Stout was not the exact proposal the state evaluated and included investments in mass transit and other alternative corridors.

Redesigning the central Stadium Interchange as a diverging diamond interchange is expected to save up to $90 million versus a previous “hybrid” design. But the supplemental study found that an additional five acres of land are needed from the American Family Field property. The state would need to work with the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District to replace an estimated 600 parking spaces.

The project as a whole would require the state to acquire 54 acres of land, including displacing a handful of businesses in the Menomonee Valley.

WisDOT has backed the project because it reports the roadway, which was originally built in the 1960s, is in poor condition and needs safety improvements, including the removal of left-hand entrances or exits.

June 25
4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Washington Park Senior Center
4420 W. Vliet St.

June 26
4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Tommy Thompson Youth Center
640 S. 84th St.