State, local officials disagree over need
The proposed expansion of I-94 along Milwaukee’s west side wouldn’t just affect freeway traffic — it also touches on economic development issues as well as the quality of life in nearby neighborhoods.
The $1 billion project would expand I-94 from six lanes to eight lanes between 16th and 70th streets.
That’s needed to reduce congestion and improve safety, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
That includes providing a reliable link within the state’s freeway system for trucks that haul freight throughout Wisconsin and other states.
But opponents say the aging stretch of freeway can be rebuilt and made safer without the additional lanes — which they say aren’t justified based on DOT’s traffic counts.
People opposing the expansion also say the project’s benefits are overstated, and favor suburban commuters over Black people living near the freeway — many of whom don’t own cars.
“It’s not just a transportation project,” said Montavius Jones, a project opponent. “We get these adverse effects in Black and
Traffic travels along I-94 looking east from North 25th Street in Milwaukee on March 18. brown neighborhoods.”
The expansion could see construction start in 2023 if approved by federal highway officials and the state Legislature. It would take three to fours years to complete.
The debate over the project features an odd political dynamic.
The project
is proposed by
Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, but is opposed by other Democrats, including some Milwaukee Common Council members.
Its supporters include Republicans in the state Legislature who typically are at odds with Evers on most policy issues.
And, the project depends on federal funding from President Joe Biden’s new administration — which has vowed to battle climate change in part by using mass transit to reduce auto emissions.
“This project is out of line with federal and state climate change goals,” said Cassie Steiner, senior campaign coordinator at the Sierra Club’s Wisconsin chapter.
The expansion project was first proposed by then Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
It received federal approval to pay most of its costs. But Walker in 2017 dropped the project because the state didn’t have a way to fund its share.
Since then, Evers and Republicans who control the Legislature have added money for road projects by raising vehicle title and registration fees.
Evers in July announced plans to revive the expansion project.
His proposal is supported by business groups as well as labor unions whose members would work on the expansion.
Evers’ proposed 2021-2023 budget includes $82 million for design work, real estate acquisitions and utility relocations, with additional funding to be requested in the 2023-2025 budget, said Michael Pyritz, a DOT communication specialist.
That I-94 funding plan is drawing support from such Republicans as Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, of Oostburg. The Legislature is to vote on the budget by the end of June.
High crash rates cited
DOT officials said the project is needed because I-94 between the updated Marquette and Zoo interchanges is congested, with a crash rate two to three times higher than the statewide average.
Changes would include replacing deteriorating pavement and bridges, reconfiguring the Stadium Interchange to eliminate left lane exit and entrance ramps and redesigning the Hawley Road interchange to only allow access to and from its west.
Similar changes have reduced crashes at the Marquette and Zoo interchanges, as well as I-94 running from Milwaukee’s far south side to the Illinois border, according to the department.
And those changes wouldn’t just benefit suburban commuters. A 2012 DOT study found that 76% of rush hour trips on that stretch of I-94 start or end within the surrounding corridor.
Evers and other project supporters also say the 4-mile stretch of freeway is important to the region and the state.
“This is one of the busiest and most commercially significant stretches of interstate in Wisconsin,” said Steve Baas, senior vice president for governmental affairs at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
“By expanding capacity and increasing safety, we will ensure that this vital artery for commerce and tourism remains healthy for generations to come,” Baas said, in a statement.
Also, killing the project would mean forgoing federal money, supporting thousands of construction jobs, that would shift to other states, said Pam
Fendt, Milwaukee Area Labor Council president.
“Seeking to turn away allocated funding for an important project in the heart of Milwaukee seems short-sighted,” Fendt said, in a statement.
Opponents agree that I-94 is important. They support safety upgrades.
Eight lanes called unnecessary
But they also say an expansion from six lanes to eight lanes isn’t necessary.
They cite DOT data that show a mix of increased and decreased traffic counts over the past several years at different points along the proposed I-94 expansion.
“It’s not astronomical growth,” said Brian Bliesner, DOT project development chief.
“But it’s fairly regular, modest growth,” Bliesner said at the department’s March 16 public presentation on the I-94 plan.
Adding those lanes would account for roughly $200 million to $250 million of the project’s estimated $1 billion price tag, said Ald. Robert Bauman, an expansion opponent whose district includes the near west side.
Others raised the issue of “induced demand.”
That occurs when adding freeway lanes actually generates more traffic and increased congestion.
“Traffic is like a gas. It expands to fill its container,” opponent Garrett Ducat said at the public presentation.
However, induced demand is more likely to occur with new freeways than with expanded freeways in “mature corridors,” responded Jeff Bauer, senior project manager at Jacobs Engineering Group, a DOT consultant.
Opponents also say adding more lanes will bring increased noise and air pollution to nearby neighborhoods. The project would include noise walls.
Jones, who works in commercial real estate, noted DOT’s plans to buy and demolish around a dozen homes and commercial properties to accommodate the expansion.
That amounts to “further destroying the fabric of predominantly minority neighborhoods” on Milwaukee’s near west side, Jones said.
Concern about racial equity
DOT officials said the project would provide jobs, with a rough estimate ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 positions. That would include contracts set aside for hiring minority-owned businesses.
Jones said a better approach would be for Evers and the Legislature to spend less on highways and more on mass transit, as well as bike lanes and other alternatives to cars.
“People who do not drive are disproportionately people of color,” Jones said.
Concerns about racial equity, as well as an expanded freeway’s impact on climate change, could provide a means of stopping the project, said Steiner, of the Sierra Club.
Her organization, along with NAACP’s Milwaukee branch and the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope, in 2017 sued to stop the I-94 expansion before Gov. Walker dropped the project.
That lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, claimed the project would worsen regional racial segregation as well as create adverse effects on air and water quality — the latter from additional storm water runoff.
The suit said federal officials unlawfully approved the I-94 project — claiming its environmental impact statement didn’t fully consider expansion alternatives, or a range of project impacts.
The suit was dismissed after the project was dropped. But Steiner said the
The proposed I-94 expansion, including this portion looking west of North 25th Street, is supported by Gov. Tony Evers but is opposed by the Milwaukee Common Council.
Sierra Club is considering its legal options in response to Evers reviving the proposal.
Opponents said the DOT should do another environmental impact statement. That could take a year or two to finish.
Department officials said they are instead doing a less-extensive reevaluation of the statement to obtain renewed federal approval.
The Federal Highway Administration’s review of the revived expansion project is expected to be completed by late 2021, according to the DOT.
Meanwhile, the Common Council Judiciary and Legislation Committee in February voted to ask the federal agency to deny that approval. The full council, however, referred that measure back to the committee.
Bauman, who sponsored that resolution, said state officials should do a new environmental impact statement for the project — in part because the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted traffic levels.
Other changes since the project’s environmental impact statement was completed in 2016 include the election of President Biden.
His administration is pursuing policies to fight climate change and promote racial equity.
The Federal Highway Administration this month paused the Houston area’s I-45 expansion project over civil rights concerns. The agency wants time to review those issues.
That came as Harris County, which includes Houston, said it was suing the Texas Department of Transportation over the North Houston Highway Improvement Project.
Steiner said a similar dynamic could play out with a Biden administration review of the I-94 expansion proposal.
“I’m really interested to see what happens to this project as it moves forward,” she said.