MILWAUKEE — We’re now about a year away from a decision that will impact more than 70,000 drivers each day.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is currently studying what to do with the I-794 Lake Interchange just north of the Hoan Bridge as it cuts through downtown Milwaukee.
The big decision comes with a variety of perspectives on what’s turned into a lightning rod issue in Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs.
WisDOT says the 50-year-old elevated freeway is deteriorating and something needs to be done.
In this ‘360’ report, we are going to hear from four different perspectives on what’s best for the future of I-794. Milwaukee’s mayor shares his position, a business owner explains why she’s torn, but we start with two Milwaukeans who are advocating for opposite outcomes.
“It's certainly not feasible, practical, or desirable for people who use the freeway,” said Charlie Rosenberg.
Rosenberg cares so much about keeping I-794 that he’s attended a public meeting and he wrote an opinion piece this week in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"Obviously we can't just leave the freeway if it's just falling apart. It has to be rebuilt,” he told TMJ4.
WisDOT says there are three overarching options: reconstruct what’s already here, improve the freeway by changing some design features, or remove it altogether and utilize streets on the ground.
“What would your concern be for commute times?” reporter Ben Jordan asked. "During busy times of the day, I could easily see it being a 20-minute delay. In really bad times, maybe thirty minutes."
Rosenberg can’t stand the thought of the third option as someone who frequents the freeway.
"All this traffic coming on the freeway at 55 miles an hour is suddenly going to be moving all backed up one red light after another,” he said. “It's going to be a nightmare."
Gard Pecor is with Rethink I-794.
"I think you'd see a lot of apartments, some new offices, new storefronts, new retail, new hotels,” he said.
The group is advocating for the lake interchange to be torn down.
"This used to be the heart of the Italian community,” he said.
Pecor envisions a return to what these streets looked like back in 1970.
"This was a dense area where people worshiped, they shopped, they lived, they ate, they worked, and look at us now."
He says there is no disputing the change would come with slightly longer commute times.
"I think the real question and the better question is what do we value as a community,” he said.
He thinks the trade-off seen in these renderings is worth what he considers to be a small inconvenience.
Pictures show the potential to add to the skyline, the local economy, and downtown green space.
"Do we value faster commute times or do we value addressing our housing crisis and building our economy,” Pecor said. “We currently have the third lowest vacancy rate in the country for apartments in Milwaukee. That is very low and it's falling fast.”
Mayor Cavalier Johnson agrees and tearing down I-794 is a key aspect of the city’s Downtown 2040 Plan.
"I want folks to think about what the city can be, what the city should be 30 years from now,” Mayor Johnson said.
He sees it as an opportunity to build out up to 30 acres of prime real estate.
"In my heart of hearts, yeah, I would like to see something like that,” he said. "To add more development, to generate more property taxes, and to create more jobs and opportunity for the people of Milwaukee to have more streets that would allow for the Department of Public Works to be able to transform into facilities that are more accommodating to pedestrians and bicyclists and scooter riders and the like."
WisDOT’s study shows that if the lake interchange is removed, the streets just north of the Third Ward would be the biggest increase in traffic, particularly St. Paul Ave. and Clybourn St.
We wanted to hear the perspective of a small business owner in the Third Ward. We found Joena Vitale. She just opened a deli shop called Third Coast Gourmet on N. Water Street just two blocks south of I-794.
“What would be your preferred option?” Jordan asked.
"My preferred option would be to tear it down and have more traffic generated in this area, but on the other hand, how's the parking going to be handled? It's already difficult to park in the Third Ward."
WisDOT says it’s spending the next several months narrowing nine potential concepts down to three by this fall and figuring out how much each of them would cost.
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