Public Meetings Upcoming On Possible I-794 Removal, Replacement
WisDOT will present traffic impacts for first time on various alternatives.
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.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
More about the Interstate 794 Rebuild
- Public Meetings Upcoming On Possible I-794 Removal, Replacement - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 17th, 2025
- WisDOT Unveils Four Options To Rebuild I-794 - Jeramey Jannene - May 30th, 2025
- Open House Scheduled On Revised Plans To Replace I-794 - Jeramey Jannene - May 9th, 2025
- UWM Students Design A Future Without I-794 - Jeramey Jannene - May 2nd, 2025
- See New Options To Slim I-794 in Downtown or Make It A Boulevard - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 2nd, 2025
- Freeway-to-Boulevard Option Still On Table for 794 Rebuild - Jeramey Jannene - Jan 30th, 2025
- Converting 794 To Boulevard Could Yield 3,000 Housing Units, $1.1 Billion in Development - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 21st, 2024
- See What Boulevard Replacing I-794 in Downtown Would Look Like - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 30th, 2024
- Mayor Backs Boulevard To Replace I-794 Downtown - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 16th, 2024
- Murphy’s Law: No, I-794 Won’t Be Eliminated - Bruce Murphy - Jan 31st, 2024
Read more about Interstate 794 Rebuild here
Transportation
-
Paris Rides to New Record
Oct 18th, 2025 by Jeff Wood
-
One Alderman’s Quest To Defund The Streetcar
Oct 18th, 2025 by Jeramey Jannene
-
Construction Starting On $1.7 Billion Interstate 94 Widening
Oct 15th, 2025 by Jeramey Jannene
Don’t sit by. Attend a meeting. This is an enormously important decision for the future of Milwaukee. Support the “boulevard” option. Remember the fight regarding the “Park East Freeway” project? The project halted in the mid-1970s because of LOCAL OPPOSITION. This opposition by Milwaukee citizens stopped the freeway and created opportunity for development, construction and enrichment of neighborhoods.
What seems like the only question is HOW DO THE TRUCKS get from the harbor to I 94 I43 I41 without going on city streets
It is the only question If it is not needed for the Harbor then it can be taken down BUT
Please address this specific question with numbers of trucks and how they will get to the freeway if the 794 is taken down and who will pay for the maintenance of the Hoan bridge once it is no longer part of the Interstate Hummmmm
Good question. You’ve asked it before. There must be an answer to the truck issue. Perhaps a segregated lane in the newly-opened space just for truck traffic. Who knows. But let’s not stop the project because of this yet-to-be-solved problem. As to the bridge, there are always ways and means. If we can spend almost 2 billion on widening 94 we can figure this out. (Though I think it’s ridiculous that we are spending 2 billion-ish on another freeway project.)
@Thomas – As a Bay View resident, I can tell you that a large number of trucks already use Bay/Becher (same street, two names) to get to 94/43 from the Port. WisDOT will, presumably, have much more data on that.
Similar to dozens of city streets that carry state and federal highway designations (Prospect, Wells, National, Chase, the list goes on and on), the state and federal government would continue to pay to maintain the Hoan Bridge. This is true already for the portion of 794 south of the port that already does not carry a full interstate designation.
Thank you, Jeramey Jannene, for this very informative additional information. Helpful to the discussion. Onward.