Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Wednesday lent perhaps the most prominent voice yet to the debate over the future of I-794, saying tearing down the Downtown stretch of elevated freeway would destroy decades-old traffic patterns and create major gridlock, among other issues.
After what he called extensive review of the matter, Johnson said he will recommend to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that the Downtown freeway, which rises above the city’s central business district and the Third Ward, remain intact and be upgraded.
“I prefer an option that will improve the existing roadway, so that means maintaining the elevated portion,” Johnson said during a press conference at his City Hall office. “I had previously broached the possibility of bringing the highway down to ground level, and while there are some benefits to that alternative, the negative consequences of doing so became apparent upon more detailed analysis.”
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The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has been weighing alternatives for the 50-year-old stretch of freeway between the Marquette Interchange to the Hoan Bridge. At issue is whether Downtown’ east-west stretch of freeway should be renovated or torn down while correspondingly expanding Clybourn Street.
Proponents of razing the freeway say it would free 16 acres for development. And a study commissioned by Rethink 794, a Milwaukee citizen-led coalition and campaign advocating for the removal of the freeway, predicts the corridor could produce $1.1 billion in development, including 3,000 new housing units, generating $475 million in property taxes over 30 years.
Freeway removal proponents envision an opportunity to turn Clybourn Street into a two-way boulevard. There would be on- and off-ramps at Sixth Street for I-94, at Second Street for I-43 and at Lincoln Memorial Drive for the Hoan Bridge, connecting to the Lake Parkway. Proponents of the removal argue that a surface-level boulevard would provide an opportunity to prioritize pedestrian mobility, build publicly accessible community spaces and promote patronage of Downtown businesses.
Taylor Korslin, a volunteer with Rethink 794, told Milwaukee Magazine that Johnson’s comments are “shortsighted” and “lack vision.”
“The highway ‘improvement’ doesn’t improve the city,” Korslin said. “If you want to be bold about growing the city to a million people, this is where you start. Thousands of people could live right here. The next generation does not want to inherit a Downtown with this elevated highway through it.”
Johnson said he sympathizes with many of the points raised by those who favor removal of the freeway stretch.
“The advocates for bringing 794 to street level, they make some really valuable points, and I agree, if we’re dealing with a blank slate, that this sort of elevated freeway would be the farthest option from the best option for our Downtown,” Johnson said. “The unfortunate part of that, though, is that we’ve had decades of established traffic patterns, and that has limited our ability to make dramatic changes here.”
Meetings have been held with leaders of business improvement districts north and south of Downtown, Johnson said. “I sense a growing appreciation for the challenges a major change would bring.”
Traffic studies show a significant potential for gridlock, particularly in the summer season, if the traffic on I-794 is brought down to street level, the mayor said.
“Lift bridges could cause gridlock throughout the summer. You add on the activity that we see during the festival season, and the area east of the river could be completely impassible at times,” he said. “Visitors to our lakefront could see big tie-ups. Residential neighborhoods north and south of Downtown would see increased spillover traffic happening from the freeway being brought down.”
Korslin dismissed the gridlock argument.
“In every highway-to-boulevard debate you hear the scare of gridlock, but gridlock doesn’t materialize,” he said. “People adapt more than the DOT predicts, and so will freight movement.”
Korslin argued that the freeway renovation option would add congestion east of the river by consolidating ramps while keeping the elevated highway.
“The land you do open up is next to the off-ramp and highway,” he said. “That’s not desirable for housing and doesn’t connect neighborhoods. The so-called highway improvement is a compromise that does not advance our city’s economic development, housing affordability and tax-base generation. It would be a huge missed opportunity.”
Also at issue, Johnson said, is activity at Port Milwaukee, which generates an average of about 1,000 trucks per day. “These are trucks that carry salt, agricultural products and other cargo that’s moving through our port,” he said. “Without the existing interstate highway connection, many of those trucks would then be rumbling through neighborhoods across the city.”
The full cost of razing the freeway to local taxpayers is another “big unknown,” the mayor added.
Johnson also addressed arguments that razing the I-794 elevated freeway would be similar to the tearing down of the Park East Freeway more than two decades ago.
“There’s one really big difference in that, though, and that’s that the Park East Freeway carried very little traffic, so street level changes could accommodate the freeway’s removal,” he said. “That’s just simply not the case for 794.”
The mayor’s recommendation doesn’t mean razing the freeway is off the table.
“Ultimately, the future of 794 is going to be determined at the state. What I’m doing now is sharing my perspective,” he said. “I’m the mayor of the city, so hopefully it carries a lot.”
Even without the razing of the freeway, there are several sites Downtown that could be targeted for development, Johnson said, including what he described as a “very attractive” site immediately south of The Couture, the 44-story lakefront high-rise luxury apartment building.
“We already have large available tracts of land Downtown, including surface-level parking lots, which I’ve expressed my dismay for, and want to see those developed,” Johnson said. “We’ve already got a lot of land in the vicinity for reconstruction, dozens and dozens of acres that are ready for redevelopment.”
