See The State’s Design Concepts For Replacing Or Rebuilding Interstate 794

Interstate 794 Rebuild As-Is option. Image from Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Following private meetings with stakeholders, The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) released its conceptual options for rebuilding Interstate 794 through downtown Milwaukee.

The eight different options prepared would drastically change the footprint of the aging freeway, built in the 1970s, and open up additional land for development or new public uses. Two of the options call for removing the freeway and replacing it with a boulevard.

And aside from the debate about whether or not to remove the freeway, the suitability of the different proposals is likely to be the source of significant debate in the coming weeks, as the options call for realigning or eliminating ramps.

The project, expected to cost over $300 million, is formally to rebuild the elevated freeway between N. Water Street and the Hoan Bridge, but last year the Rethink 794 coalition called for the state agency to formally study replacing Interstate 794 between N. 6th Street and the Hoan Bridge with a boulevard.

The coalition’s conceptual proposal would maintain freeway access, including the Hoan Bridge, to Downtown, but free up 32 acres of land for development and reconnect the East Town and Historic Third Ward neighborhoods.

WisDOT prepared two options for replacing the freeway segment with a boulevard, both of which would require a movable bridge over the Milwaukee River and neither of which yielded as much newly-available land.

In all eight of the options, E. Clybourn Avenue would be converted to a two-way street and E. St. Paul Avenue extended east to N. Lincoln Memorial Drive from N. Van Buren Street. Seven of the options call for E. Buffalo Street to be extended east from N. Van Buren Street to N. Lincoln Memorial Drive.

In all six of the freeway scenarios, the north-south ramps used to access the Hoan Bridge would be relocated a block to the south at E. St. Paul Avenue instead of E. Clybourn Avenue. The reconfiguration would eliminate the new ramps introduced in 2017 when the Lakefront Gateway project replaced the Lakefront Interchange design that was once intended to extend the freeway north up the lakefront. The long-standing ramps at N. Milwaukee Street and N. Broadway would also be eliminated.

A slideshow, presented at the stakeholder meetings, said the 2017 configuration has been frequently identified as “confusing.” Motorists end up underneath the freeway making counterintuitive turns or heading southbound on S. Lincoln Memorial Drive while trying to quickly sort out which ramp to use.

Traffic using the Lakefront Gateway ramps would be diverted west to the reconfigured ramps at N. Jackson and N. Van Buren Streets or south to the new Hoan Bridge ramps at E. St. Paul Avenue. The Jackson-Van Buren ramps would also receive the Milwaukee-Broadway traffic via the reconnected street grid.

The reconfigurations would create or expand potential development parcels, adding up to 3.6 acres of new land for development. That would join the 2.66-acre site WisDOT created when it executed the Lakefront Gateway project. That existing site, just south of The Couture, could conceptually support a 50-story lakefront tower and is listed for sale.

Up to 2.8 acres of land would be freed up along N. Harbor Dr. adjacent to the Henry Maier Festival Park. It would not be available for private development because it is filled lakebed.

Multiple options call for a segment of N. Cass Street to be constructed in the Third Ward. The new street, which would be just west of Hoan Bridge, could increase development pressure on the surface parking lots that dominate that area today.

Freeway Removal Options

The two freeway removal options prepared don’t cover the entire area the Rethink 794 coalition requested, but do include extending the removal into Westown. Each of the proposals would add more than a dozen acres of developable land, substantially expand the street grid and eliminate a visual barrier between Downtown and the Historic Third Ward.

“Concept 1” would have the freeway end at N. 2nd Street and start again at E. St. Paul Avenue and N. Lincoln Memorial Dr.

“Concept 2” would have the freeway end at N. 3rd Street and start again at E. Buffalo St., one block further south than Concept 1.

For each option, E. Clybourn Avenue would be expanded into a boulevard and E. St. Paul Avenue would be extended east to N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, creating two parallel, east-west routes. N. Cass Street would be extended into the Historic Third Ward to create a new north-south option.

Concept 1 would free up 15.6 acres of new land for public or private development and 2.2 acres for public use. Concept 2 would free up 12.7 acres of new land for public or private development and 4.8 acres for public use.

The pending 2040 Downtown Plan, a city project, calls for Interstate 794 to be replaced with a boulevard or have its footprint narrowed.

WisDOT estimates that 26,600 vehicles traverse 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.

What’s Next?

A public meeting is to be held this summer, with the intent of identifying alternatives for further study. After further review, a preferred alternative will ultimately be selected.

Final design is to be completed in 2025 and 2026. Construction, if funded, would occur between 2026 and 2029.

A full copy of the presentation is available on Urban Milwaukee. More information and a comment form is available on the WisDOT project website.

Freeway Options

Removal Options

As-Is Rebuild