Three Environmental Justice Groups Ask Court to Block I-94 Expansion
WisDOT is refusing to include necessary public transit expansion as part of the project.
I-94 Expansion Area. Image from WisDOT.
MILWAUKEE: Yesterday, organizations supporting racial and environmental justice – the NAACP Milwaukee Branch, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter, and Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH) – filed suit in federal court in Milwaukee, seeking to block the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s efforts to spend over $1 billion dollars to rebuild and expand I-94 between 16th and 70th Streets when it is refusing to include necessary public transit expansion as part of the project.
“Spending billions of dollars on one extravagant highway expansion project after another, while transit services and funding keep getting cut, reduces the ability of many Milwaukee residents, particularly persons of color, to access employment, education, health care and other activities,” said Fred Royal, NAACP Milwaukee Branch President.
“One of MICAH’s biggest concerns is the extreme and unacceptable rate of joblessness in the central city, for persons of color in general and African-American men in particular,” stated Pastor Marilyn Miller, MICAH President. “We all know that people of color depend on transit to get to work at all. We need more transit – to more places where the jobs are – not just highways that don’t help these members of our community get to work.”
“Expanding highways while support for transit declines also hurts our air quality, which is a health and environmental justice issue that concerns the Sierra Club,” said Bill Davis, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter Director.
The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation and by Milwaukee Attorney Dennis M Grzezinski. A copy of the lawsuit is available at http://aclu-wi.org/media/three-environmental-justice-groups-ask-court-block-i-94-expansion
The ACLU of Wisconsin is a non-profit, non-partisan, private organization whose 7,000 members support its efforts to defend the civil rights and liberties of all Wisconsin residents. For more on the ACLU of Wisconsin, visit our website, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @ACLUofWisconsin and @ACLUMadison.
More about the I-94 East-West Expansion
- Op Ed: Expanded I-94 Will Damage Pigsville - Leland Pan - Jan 10th, 2022
- Transportation: Interstate 94 Project Cost Much Higher Than Original Estimate - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 10th, 2021
- Transportation: Public Input Sought on Controversial Interstate 94 Expansion - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 3rd, 2021
- Op Ed: Did I-94 End Milwaukee’s Population Growth? - David Jasenski - Sep 22nd, 2021
- Transportation: Plan Offers Alternative To Expanded I-94 - Jeramey Jannene - Sep 14th, 2021
- Statement from Mayor Barrett on the New Impact Review for the I-94 Project - Mayor Tom Barrett - Apr 15th, 2021
- Advocates applaud opportunity for public input on I-94 East-West project, but new environmental review process still needed - Press Release - Apr 15th, 2021
- Transportation: State Delaying Interstate 94 Expansion For New Study - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 15th, 2021
- Transportation: Freeway Expansion Opponents To Meet With Biden Administration - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 8th, 2021
- Op Ed: Evers Is Wrong on I-94 Expansion - John Norquist - Mar 16th, 2021
Read more about I-94 East-West Expansion here
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I’d be more sympathetic if our county transit system wasn’t a bloated waste of tax dollars…
Milwaukee is entirely too car-centric and the price is paid on an annual basis by every car owner in the State of WI. Mass transit will be critical for growth of every US city, and the longer this is delayed, the more expensive the bills.