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I-94 expansion project public meeting
It's just three-and-a-half miles long, but the plan to expand I-94 in Milwaukee could now cost more than $1.7 billion.
MILWAUKEE - It's just three-and-a-half miles long, but the plan to expand I-94 in Milwaukee could now cost more than $1.7 billion.
The state held another open house on the project on Tuesday, June 25.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation said just adding a lane will address current and future traffic.
For the first time since gaining federal approval in March, the design discussions for the I-94 expansion are a lot more real now.
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"We're moving forward," said Jeff Bohen with the WisDOT project team. "We're starting to nail down our construction schedule and how this whole project is gonna kinda piece together."
WisDOT plans to expand the stretch of I-94 from the Zoo Interchange east to the Marquette Interchange to eight lanes, and mostly on the same footprint.
Bohen said that’s basically the only component set in stone, as they hope to break ground in fall of 2025.
"We have not made all of the decisions yet, by far," he said. "We've got a lot of work to do yet."
The project would also replace the stadium interchange with a 'diverging diamond' interchange, weaving traffic beneath the freeway for more efficiency.
"We kinda right-sized it for the traffic on 175 and the future traffic, as well as what's going on with I-94," Bohen said.
The updates are welcome for some who live along the three-and-a-half mile-long stretch like Kim Michels.
"It's dangerous, and it's going to be a relief to not have to deal with all that merging all of the time," Michels said.
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While others still wonder if expansion is really necessary to address traffic.
Via WisDOT
"I think that the infrastructure should be reconfigured, as they are doing so, but I don't particularly think that it will mitigate any of the traffic that we see," resident Michael Lee said.
All of this comes as the Federal Highway Administration is conducting a civil rights investigation into the project.
A second public meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 26, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Wisconsin State Fair Park.