794 Teardown Advocates To Host Walking Tour

N. Van Buren Street under Interstate 794. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Advocates for replacing a key stretch of Interstate 794 with a surface-level boulevard are continuing their push to build public support, this time by inviting residents to walk the corridor themselves.

Rethink 794 will host a Walk & Roll audit at noon Tuesday, March 31, offering participants a guided look at the downtown segment of the elevated freeway that state officials say must be rebuilt or replaced in coming years.

The event marks the second in a series of walking tours designed to help residents better understand the corridor and weigh in on its future. Organizers say feedback gathered from participants will be compiled into recommendations as the debate over I-794’s future intensifies.

The roughly 30-minute walk will begin outside the U.S. Bank Center, 777 E. Wisconsin Ave. It will be led by architect Taylor Korslin and 1000 Friends of Wisconsin transportation policy analyst Raphie Torralba. A post-walk discussion will follow inside the building, near the Colectivo Coffee café, with light refreshments provided.

The tours come as the Wisconsin Department of Transportation continues studying options for the aging freeway segment west of the Hoan Bridge. The agency has identified three primary paths forward: rebuilding the elevated freeway as it exists today, reconstructing it with modifications, or removing it and replacing it with an at-grade boulevard. In 2022, Rethink 794 successfully advocated for WisDOT to study the boulevard option.

State officials have said the oldest portion of the nearly one-mile stretch must be replaced due to its age. The elevated freeway was constructed in the 1970s.

Boulevard advocates argue that removing the freeway would unlock land for housing, commercial development and public space while reconnecting neighborhoods long divided by highway infrastructure. They also contend that the city’s street grid could absorb traffic with only modest increases in travel times for most trips.

Based on the analysis of an urban planner affiliated with the group, Rethink 794 believes a boulevard replacement could create space for 3,000 new housing units, parks and about $1.1 billion in new development.

Opponents, including suburban commuters and a real estate business group, have raised concerns about congestion, particularly on nearby corridors like Interstate 43, and warn that removing the freeway could shift traffic burdens onto local streets and other highways and stunt economic growth.

WisDOT, during open house meetings held last fall, presented its first traffic models of the various redesign options. Under the boulevard scenario, I-43 was expected to see heavy congestion, but Rethink 794 and others familiar with the process questioned the traffic modeling used for that segment.

Later this spring, WisDOT is expected to host an open house on the potential land use impacts of each of the design options.

The walking tours are part of a broader strategy by Rethink 794 and its partners to influence the public conversation ahead of a formal recommendation for a preferred option from WisDOT, expected later this year. Design work on the reconstruction is expected to be completed by 2030, with construction timing subject to funding availability.

Rethink 794, in a press release, said the Walk & Roll event is designed to be accessible, welcoming participants who use wheelchairs, bicycles or other mobility devices. American Sign Language interpretation will also be available. More information is available on the organization’s website.

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