WisDOT Unveils Four Options To Rebuild I-794

Interstate 794 between Downtown and the Historic Third Ward. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

On your marks, get set, wait.

A key revelation from Thursday’s open house regarding the replacement of Interstate 794 through downtown Milwaukee was that a final decision on how it will be rebuilt is likely two years away. Actual construction is, at best, five years away.

The extended timeline comes as the project has been expanded to include a full environmental review.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation, as Urban Milwaukee reported in April, is studying four options to rebuild the aging elevated freeway between the Hoan Bridge and the Milwaukee River.

Two alternatives would rebuild the elevated freeway, but in a much slimmer footprint and with fewer access ramps. The difference between the two is whether the Jackson/Van Buren ramps would be right- or left-sided ramps.

A freeway-to-boulevard reconfiguration is still on the table and would run between the Marquette Interchange and Hoan Bridge.

The fourth option would rebuild the freeway in kind with minimal change.

A preferred alternative is expected to be identified in 2027. Construction, if financing is provided, could begin in 2030.

Hundreds of attendees at Thursday’s meeting were able to ask questions of WisDOT staff and project consultants from HNTB. But plenty of questions remain unresolved and additional study work is necessary.

A second meeting is planned for later this year. Materials from Thursday’s meeting said the upcoming meeting will include data on estimated travel times, details on a movable bridge over the Milwaukee River and traffic flows.

While it isn’t at the point of selecting a preferred alternative, WisDOT is still soliciting feedback on the alternatives. Individuals can review the meeting materials and submit a comment on the project website.

WisDOT has been studying its options since 2022 and first unveiled nine alternatives in 2023.

Details On Alternatives

The slimmer freeway would involve removing or relocating several ramps. The current lakefront offramps, constructed approximately a decade ago, would be simplified, with ramps moved south to an extended E. Buffalo Street. The Milwaukee and Broadway ramp pair would be removed, causing more motorists to use the new lakefront ramps and expanded street grid. The slimmer freeway does not involve modifications west of the Milwaukee River.

The bridges east of the Milwaukee River were not rebuilt as part of the Marquette Interchange project and date to the early 1970s. WisDOT says they are currently safe, but will need to be replaced. The Hoan Bridge was rehabilitated in 2011 and would remain under any of the alternatives under construction.

Under the street-level option, which would involve converting Clybourn Street to a two-way road and building a new movable bridge over the Milwaukee River, a freeway spur would also remain between N. 2nd Street and the Marquette Interchange to the west.

The freeway spur would expedite vehicle access to and from I-43 and I-94 to the south by maintaining a limited-access freeway ramp. Motorists coming or going from I-94 to the west would use the boulevard starting at the Marquette Interchange; much in the same way W. Clybourn Street currently becomes a westbound onramp. The freeway spur would allow the city to maintain The Hop Operations and Maintenance Facility, located underneath the elevated freeway, in its current location.

Both the slimmer freeway and the boulevard would add many acres of developable land. The narrowed freeway would create several new lots between N. Jefferson Street and the lakefront. The boulevard would create a greater number of larger lots and extend west towards N. Water Street. It would also create a developable site along W. St. Paul Avenue where the Plankinton Avenue ramp currently circles. Given its proximity to Downtown and the lakefront, the land is viewed as highly valuable.

According to a WisDOT presentation, the boulevard option is being modeled on the assumption that two-thirds of through traffic would be diverted to other routes. Rethink 794, a coalition formed to advocate for the freeway’s removal, has advocated for improvements to Becher and Bay streets in the Harbor District to improve connectivity between the port and Interstate 43/94. WisDOT estimates that 3% of traffic on the freeway is truck traffic.

“The removal option by WisDOT is not only viable, it would open the door to 30 years of job creation and much-needed housing in the heart of the region,” said the coalition in advance of the meeting. “It would set a national standard for growth within a city center.”

A Rethink 794 report authored by UW-Milwaukee professor emeritus Larry Witzling estimates that the freeway-to-boulevard option would yield $475 million in new property tax revenue, 3,000 new housing units and $60 million in incremental sales tax revenue over 30 years.

Witzling on Thursday said he was pleased with WisDOT’s freeway-to-boulevard design. He told Urban Milwaukee that bringing the freeway to street level at E. Buffalo Street and also extending E. St. Paul Avenue to meet it would provide several options to diffuse traffic through the street grid. Currently, the Hoan Bridge comes to grade at E. Clybourn Street, a block north of E. St. Paul Avenue.

“When the Park East freeway was removed, people thought it would be a traffic nightmare, and now 20 years later, people forget it was even there, and we have a growing Deer District in its place,” said the coalition. “It is becoming clearer that rebuilding an elevated highway through Downtown even with some tweaks completely fails to take advantage of this generational opportunity.”

A project traffic study estimates that 26,600 vehicles make an end-to-end trip across the entire study area each day. More than double that total enters or exits the study area via a ramp and does not make an end-to-end trip, presumably to start or end a trip Downtown.

May 2025 Alternatives

May 2025 Video