MILWAUKEE — It’s turned into a lightning rod issue in Milwaukee: What should be done with the I-794 lake interchange heading through the heart of the city? Nearly 74,000 drivers use it each day.
On Tuesday, we got our first look at a study that shows where traffic would be diverted if it is torn down.
For businesses, more traffic usually means more customers.
"Probably a lot of people don't know that we are here,” said Saul Mazaba. "Obviously it's more people coming to the restaurant."
Mazaba co-owns Fiesta Cafe on S. 1st St. The corridor is expected to see a 32 percent increase in daily traffic if a portion of I-794 comes down.
"We can sell more food to support our families,” he said.
But for commuters like Michael Breitbach coming from the southern suburbs, removing it would come with fears of more congestion on streets with lower speed limits.
"It would take me probably twice as long,” he said.
Tearing down the lake interchange is one of several concepts on the table as the Wisconsin Department of Transportation considers the future of I-794 and its aging infrastructure.
Project consultant Pat Hawley says the extra traffic would end up falling into three separate areas.
"About a third of the traffic that's currently using 794 is remaining on the corridor, so it will stay on Clybourn, it will stay on St. Paul,” he said. “About a third of that traffic is going to divert to the north. So it will now use some of the interchanges off of I-43 and then a third of it is going to divert down to the south on 94."
This graphic shows the biggest traffic spikes in purple. The top two are Clybourn and St. Paul which are on both sides of the interstate. The study says traffic on Clybourn would increase by 282 percent and traffic on St. Paul would go up by 174 percent, according to the traffic study.
Further south, Becher and Bay Streets would see an 84 percent increase in commuters heading to and from I-94.
Meanwhile, the study says Fond du Lac Ave, one of the busiest streets on the north side of the city, would see a 32 percent increase in traffic.
“What would it mean for a typical commute time for someone coming from South Milwaukee or Cudahy?” TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan asked.
“That's something we're really just getting into now and that's the next phase of the analysis is what do those commute times look like,” Hawley replied.
WisDOT is expected to choose a concept for the interchange within the next year. Improving or replacing that section of the freeway are also being considered.
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