See The Options To Rebuild Southside Freeway Ramps to Reconnect Walker’s Point

Ramps to I-43/94 at W. Mineral St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is soliciting feedback on five design concepts for the reconstruction of a series of Interstate 43/94 freeway ramps near W. National Avenue.

The interchange was created in the 1960s by almost entirely removing nine city blocks full of homes and businesses in favor of a series of six ramps that connect with Mineral and Walker streets.

The design options include a variety of strategies to simplify the ramps and reconnect the street grid in the Walker’s Point and Walker Square Park neighborhoods.

An open house meeting to gather feedback is being held June 3 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Milwaukee Area Technical College Walker’s Square Education Center, 816 W. National Ave.

Option A calls for simplifying the ramps by maintaining the ramps to S. 6th and W. Mineral streets, creating a southbound on-ramp from W. Walker and S. 9th streets and a northbound off-ramp at W. National Avenue and N. 7th streets.

Option B largely mirrors Option A, but reconnects W. Walker Street between 6th and 9th streets and terminates the two new ramps into the new east-west street.

Option C would reconnect W. Mineral Street across the interchange, create new ramps consistent with those proposed in Option A, and replace the existing Mineral and 6th streets ramps with ramps connecting to the new W. Mineral Street.

Option D calls for removing the ramps entirely and extending both W. Walker and W. Mineral streets across the site, while also adding a one-block N. 7th Street extension between W. Mineral Street and W. National Avenue.

The fifth option is a no-build, keep-as-is plan.

According to a WisDOT report, the ramps currently serve a combined 21,200 vehicles per day. More than 11,000 people live within a half mile of the interchange.

In addition to improving connectivity and safety, the new design options could create additional land for development.

Since its construction, the United Community Center has developed a handful of buildings at the southwest corner of the interchange. Its middle and elementary schools are currently divided by two of the ramps, a safety risk identified in the state’s 2023 federal grant application.

Biden program funding study

The study effort is being funded by a $2 million Reconnecting Communities grant announced in March 2024 during a visit to Milwaukee by President Joe Biden.

During the same Biden visit, the City of Milwaukee also secured $36.5 million to rebuild 6th Street, including the portion near the interchange, but the construction funding was rescinded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, supported by President Donald Trump. The city is continuing with the planning process, for which funding was not rescinded.

Unlike the city’s grant, the freeway ramp project was only for a study. WisDOT has not publicly identified funding for reconstruction, nor a timeline.

“These ramps, and the traffic patterns created by them, pose a substantial
threat to safety and quality of life, and create barriers to neighborhood connectivity, access, mobility, the environment, economic development, and equity,” says the state’s 2023, 184-page grant application.

To access the grant, the state contributed a $500,000 (20%) match.

A 2018 safety report authored by HNTB for WisDOT identified opportunities to improve the interchange and was embedded in the 2023 grant application.

More information on the upcoming meeting is available on the project website.

Design options

Current layout

I-43/94 ramps at National Avenue. Image from WisDOT grant application.

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