Eight-Year I-94 Project Could Be Extended Even Longer

Interstate 94 and 27th Street bridge construction in May 2026. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

The Interstate 94 East-West reconstruction project through Milwaukee was already scheduled to take eight years to complete. Now, it could be a full decade.

That’s according to a newly issued Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) report to the Transportation Projects Commission.

The report’s opening memo from WisDOT Secretary Kristina Boardman warns of “a potential two-year project delay caused by the significant utility relocations along the corridor and the impacts on work zones and through-traffic.”

The project’s cost has also grown to $1.85 billion, up from an initial estimate of $1.78 billion. The project’s construction costs have grown by $57.7 million and real estate costs by $2.1 million.

Spending money faster is the only way WisDOT currently believes it can deliver the project in 2033, instead of December 2035.

The initial plan called for the state’s biennial budgets to absorb the project’s costs incrementally, but to maintain the 2033 timeline WisDOT’s report suggests that larger sums would need to be allocated in the next two state budgets.

“This report is a snapshot of scenarios based on current funding levels,” said a WisDOT spokesperson. “Project segments being built in different phases need to come together to complete the entire I-94 East-West program. Completing the program includes incorporating complex utility relocations. Project schedules and utility work time windows rely on and affect one another … The goal of the biannual TPC report is to inform stakeholders of any and all circumstances related to the project. The report was attempting to convey that there could be potential delays to the I-94 East-West program. Typical with all mega projects, WisDOT will continue to examine options to adjust, mitigate and deliver schedules and budgets.”

The construction cost growth, according to the report, is attributed to “estimate updates as design progresses and adjustments to project schedule resulting from utility relocation delays,” and the real estate cost growth is for “updated estimates for Stadium package real estate and West Allis Service Facility renovations.” The project includes rebuilding the Stadium Interchange near American Family Field. The West Allis Service Facility is a WisDOT facility at 935 S. 60th St. that will be demolished and replaced with an extension of W. Washington Street to accommodate traffic changes resulting from the reconfiguration of the Hawley Road ramps. WisDOT purchased the former Poblocki Sign property at 922 S. 70th St. and will relocate its operation there.

Utility relocations are often a complicated part of major infrastructure projects, with governments needing to shoulder at least part of the burden of relocating buried lines, overhead wires or other infrastructure. We Energies has a substantial amount of equipment in and along the corridor.

WisDOT has already spent $260 million on the project, according to the report.

The state reports spending $54.7 million before receiving federal environmental approval, including $22.7 million for an initial planning process that Gov. Scott Walker shelved in 2017 and Gov. Tony Evers restarted in 2021.

The 3.5-mile project calls for rebuilding the aging freeway between N. 16th and N. 70th streets and a complete replacement of the Stadium Interchange. The six-lane roadway will be expanded to eight lanes as part of the project.

The corridor carries 158,000 to 178,000 vehicles daily. Built in the early 1960s, it includes 43 bridges.

As this article was being prepared to publish, WisDOT announced a new closure starting Aug. 17 and expected to last through the end of the year: Long-term lane closure of I-94 eastbound between 70th Street and General Mitchell Boulevard, reducing traffic to two lanes to facilitate the reconstruction of the I-94 eastbound lanes in the cemetery section.

More information on construction timing is available on WisDOT’s I-94 East-West project website.

The 15-member Transportation Projects Commission has recently met only annually to recommend projects for inclusion in the state budget. It includes five senators, five representatives, three citizens, the governor and, as a non-voting member, the WisDOT secretary.

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