Public Meetings Upcoming On Possible I-794 Removal, Replacement

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

With new information available, two open houses are scheduled to discuss the future of Interstate 794 through downtown Milwaukee.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) will host the meetings on Nov. 4 and 5 to show its four alternatives, answer questions and solicit feedback.

A press release announcing the meetings says that traffic analysis data on the four alternatives being studied will be publicly available for the first time. Data on traffic impacts was not available during a well-attended May meeting.

The four alternatives under study are a freeway-to-boulevard replacement, two options to slim the freeway’s footprint and one to rebuild it as is.

The project, which early estimates $300 million, would rebuild the elevated freeway between N. Water St. and the Hoan Bridge. In 2022, the Rethink 794 coalition called on WisDOT to study replacing the freeway between N. 6th Street and the Hoan Bridge with a boulevard. WisDOT reviewed multiple boulevard concepts and has included one option in its final four alternatives. Under all scenarios, the Hoan Bridge would remain.

For the first time, one of the meetings will be held on the South Shore, outside of the project study area. The southern suburbs of Cudahy, St. Francis and South Milwaukee have adopted formal opposition to a freeway-to-boulevard conversion. The city of Milwaukee’s downtown plan and Mayor Cavalier Johnson support the boulevard option, but both the plan and the mayor crafted their support in such a way as to also endorse a slimmed-down footprint.

A preferred alternative is to be selected in 2027 as part of the development of an environmental impact statement. The full National Environmental Policy Act review represents an expansion of the project’s original scope.

A project traffic study estimates that 26,600 vehicles make an end-to-end trip across the entire study area each day. More than twice that number 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. Proponents of a boulevard argue that a grid would better distribute traffic across city streets, and removing the elevated structure would improve connectivity to Downtown while creating more land for public or private use. Opponents have raised concerns about the capacity of city streets to handle the traffic volume in a boulevard scenario and travel time delays.

N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, which could see its freeway ramps reconfigured as part of the project, handles more than 31,000 vehicles daily according to a WisDOT traffic count.

WisDOT says the freeway segments east of the Milwaukee River were built in the 1970s and now need replacement. The portion to the west was rebuilt as part of the Marquette Interchange project.

Construction could begin in 2030 if funding is secured.

For more on WisDOT’s design alternatives, including intersection designs, see our coverage from April.

Meeting Schedule

Tuesday, Nov. 4
Milwaukee Marriott Downtown
625 N. Milwaukee St.
4 to 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 5
St. Thomas More High School
2601 E. Morgan Ave.
4 to 7 p.m.

April 2025 Design Alternatives

May Meeting

May 29, 2025 Interstate 794 open house meeting. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.