Freeway-to-Boulevard Option Still On Table for 794 Rebuild

Interstate 794 through Downtown. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is expected to unveil “three or four options” for rebuilding or replacing Interstate 794 through Downtown in “a few months.”

That’s according to City Engineer Kevin Muhs, who said city officials have been heavily engaged in the process.

Several options, including a freeway-to-boulevard conversion, remain under consideration for the stretch between N. 6th Street and the Hoan Bridge. WisDOT released nine options, including rebuilding as-is, in 2023 and originally envisioned narrowing the field in 2024 and starting the process of picking a preferred option.

“The timeline has stretched out,” said Muhs in speaking to the Public Works Committee on Jan. 8. “The primary reason the timeline is stretching is that the level of environmental review for the project is increasing.”

The project will now be developed with a complete environmental impact statement, the federal government’s highest level of review for transportation projects.

Additionally, the city has also been asking plenty of questions, said the engineer, of the state’s planning team.

“We have been asking a lot of questions, we’ve been asking for a lot of information to be included in the alternatives when they’re presented to the public around pros and cons and consequences and what does traffic look like, what does economic development potential look like, and that’s extending the timeframe because we’re asking for more analysis, more work for the design time,” said Muhs.

Muhs said the city has no official position at this point on what option it prefers and has not formally lobbied.

“I support a reconfiguration of Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson in April 2024. A spokesperson confirmed that includes a boulevard option.

“He’s been very careful in phrasing that,” said Muhs in January of Johnson.

The city’s 2040 Downtown Plan, approved in 2023, states that the official city position is for removal, but also allows for support of realigning the freeway. “If full removal is not feasible via this current project, any interim alternative should prioritize modernization of the infrastructure to reduce the footprint, activation of the public spaces and streets under the bridges, improvements to the ramp connections and increased safety for pedestrian crossings,” says the plan.

“It is too early. The city is not in a position right now to take a position,” said Muhs.

“That sounds reasonable to me,” said Alderman Robert Bauman.

The project, expected to cost over $300 million, is formally to rebuild the elevated freeway between N. Water Street and the Hoan Bridge, but in 2022 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 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. Proponents of a boulevard have said a grid would better diffuse traffic across city streets and that removing the elevated structure would better connect Downtown while creating more land for public or private use.

The issue has come to a head because the elevated segment was constructed in the 1970s and will need to be replaced as its condition continues to degrade.

All of the reconfiguration options produced in 2023 by WisDOT would increase the amount of developable land and many would include substantial reconfigurations of the location of access ramps.

Freeway Options

Removal Options

As-Is Rebuild

3D Renderings