Stadium Freeway North to be reexamined, with boulevard favored
The State Department of Transportation announced a new study on the future of Stadium Freeway North Wednesday, but it was clear from the comments made by officials at the news conference that they favor tearing down the freeway spur and converting it to an at-grade boulevard.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson even offered up a person to name the future stretch of road after: “Hank Aaron ... I think that’s probably enough said. He had been a legend in this community, and it leads right to American Family Field. I think there would be a lot of consensus around Hank Aaron.”
DOT Secretary Craig Thompson said the portion of Stadium Freeway North that will be studied is from Wisconsin Avenue to Lisbon Avenue. Phase 1 of the study should take about a year and a half, Thompson said.
“This 60-year-old mile-and-half stretch, from Wisconsin Avenue to Lisbon, is such an important part for this community and it needs to be rebuilt,” Thompson said. He added that the study will give the DOT a chance to listen to the community and reconnect neighborhoods.
“A road is really a lot more than asphalt, and concrete, and steel. It really is about the community and quality of life of people in the area,” Thompson said.
“For a long time I’ve recognized Highway 175 as one of those divides that separates our community from one another, it separates residents from both opportunities and amenities,” County Executive David Crowley said at the Washington Park news conference.
Crowley said he supports converting the north side’s main artery to I-94 to a boulevard because it goes toward racial equity in the county.
“In order to move forward, we have to acknowledge that individuals made choices to build freeways through Black and brown communities, like Chicago, like New York, and right here in the city of Milwaukee,” Crowley said.
Thompson, Crowley and Johnson each made sure to acknowledge state Rep. Evan Goyke, whose district the announcement was held in. Goyke has been pushing for the change for over a decade.
The cost for the initial study will be between $2 and 3 million dollars, a DOT spokesperson said.
Thompson said there is an opportunity to use federal dollars in the infrastructure bill passed last year which specifically calls for projects that reconnect neighborhoods.
He said the new road will “work with” the new proposed Stadium Interchange and the timeline hasn’t changed on I-94 East-West Corridor work. The DOT will hold informational meetings in June regarding its ongoing environmental impact study and the I-94 project.