Fix At Six Coalition Sues State, Federal Government Over I-94 Expansion

Attorney Dan Gustafson speaks at press conference announcing lawsuit agains I-94 expansion. Photo taken Aug. 19, 2024 by Graham Kilmer.

A coalition of advocacy organizations is suing state and federal transportation agencies over a plan to expand I-94 and the Stadium Interchange.

The complaint, filed Monday on behalf of the Coalition for More Responsible Transit, alleges that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) did not adequately consider alternatives to expansion, and that in pushing forward expansion the agencies have failed to consider the harm to project will cause to nearby residents, a majority of whom are people of color.

“State and federal transportation officials used an incomplete and highly selective environmental analysis to justify moving ahead with a project, add greenhouse gas emissions and reinforce a long standing pattern of neglecting public transport,” said Dan Gustafson, an attorney with Midwest Environmental Advocates, which is representing the plaintiffs along with the Legal Action Wisconsin.

The ‘Fix at Six’ coalition, which pushed for retaining a six-lane freeway, is comprised of four environmental, public health and social justice organizations, including the Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), Milwaukee Riverkeeper, Sierra Club – Wisconsin Chapter and 1000 Friends of Wisconsin. MICAH was part of a federal lawsuit that successfully sued the state over the Zoo Interchange project, leading to a settlement that included new funding for public transportation in Milwaukee.

The coalition has been advocating for an alternative to highway expansion that would involve fixing the safety and operational concerns along the project area and using the funding slated for expansion, instead, on improving public transportation for the region.

The expansion is estimated to cost between approximately $1.5 and $1.75 billion.

“And we believe that these funds can better serve the community through public transportation, that there are those who are in need of means to get back and forth to work, to be able to receive the health care that they need, also to just have a life with peace and a neighborhood with peace,” said Pastor Richard Shaw.

Opponents, including many from the organizations that joined the lawsuit, have argued that highway expansion, especially along this corridor, will worsen air pollution and health outcomes, particularly respiratory conditions like asthma; that it will not improve access to jobs or bolster the local economy, and could potentially make access to jobs worse for some residents; that it could worsen racial segregation; and that it will make flooding and polluted rain runoff worse in the surrounding areas, impacting the wider health of Milwaukee’s rivers and streams.

WisDOT pursued the project because the roadway, built in the 1960s, is in poor condition and features dangerous design elements like left-hand entrances and exits.

In 2022, WisDOT identified highway expansion as the project it would pursue along I-94. In March this year it received a thumbs up from FHWA, a constituent agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, clearing the way to finalize plans and begin construction. Construction is planned to begin in 2025 and finish in 2031.

According to the WisDOT study, the six-lane option would cost only between 3% to 6% less. However,  the actual ‘Fix at Six’ plan authored by transportation planner Mark Stout was not the exact proposal the state evaluated.

The project is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for civil rights violations, and advocates have called on WisDOT to pause moving forward at least until the civil rights review is complete.

The coalition’s lawsuit is challenging the planning process, arguing it has run afoul of the National Environmental Policy Act, Gustafson said. The suit is seeking an injunction against the project, and for the agencies to pause and reconsider fixing instead of expansion and making public transportation investments, said Karyn Rotker, with Legal Action Wisconsin.

The evidence the plaintiffs plan to present includes the hundreds of pages of comments and exhibits that opponents of the project have submitted since WisDOT began working on it.

Rotker said the proposed I-94 expansion represents a potentially “even worse” impact on Milwaukee residents than the Zoo interchange project, “because the Zoo Interchange was not quite as closely on top of human beings who live adjacent to the highway.”

The case the groups are bringing against the project is at least as strong as the one brought against the Zoo Interchange project, she said. “I think it may well be stronger.”