What’s Wrong with Expanding I-94?

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The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is recommending an expansion of Interstate 94 in Milwaukee which many local officials and activists say would not only cause further pollution and worsen climate change but would continue a decades-long pattern of racial discrimination which has devastated predominantly Black neighborhoods in the vicinity of such projects.

The $1.2 billion DOT plan would expand the freeway from six lanes to eight along a 3.5 mile stretch on the city’s West Side and adjacent to American Family Field, home to the Milwaukee Brewers. Critics say a better plan is the“Fix at Six” proposal which would improve traffic safety along I-94 but would keep the freeway at its current six-lane configuration and footprint. “Fix at Six” proponents say their idea would shift some of the funding for the I-94 project to transportation improvements along the National Avenue and 27th Street corridors, including investments in road and sidewalk repairs, bike lanes and bus rapid transit.

Lisa Jones, Executive Director of Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), said the DOT recommendation is yet another in a long series of highway projects which has “divided and burdened inner-city Milwaukee.” 

One of the areas most impacted would be Piggsville, a racially diverse neighborhood which lies just north of the freeway and east of the Menomonee River. The DOT plan includes construction of an on-ramp from I-94 to State Highway 175 which would affect the noise level, lighting and air quality of nearby Valley Park. Local residents also fear the loss of the few existing businesses in the neighborhood. 

“Our neighborhood is a food desert,” said Leland Pan, the outgoing president of the Friends of Valley Park. “Besides our wonderful tavern (The Valley Inn), our only food source within walking distance is a Hometown Gas Station which has expressed interest in expansion to provide real food options to the neighborhood. Instead, it may face shuttered doors as the expansion would demolish it, an urgent care center and the black owned bar.”  

Environmental activists and groups have urged the DOT to reconsider its expansion plan. “An eight-lane expansion would exacerbate environmental injustice by encouraging more polluting traffic, degrading air quality, contributing to climate change and trapping more heat in the central part of the city,” said Tony Wilkin Gibart, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates.

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Sewerage Overflows

Increased stormwater runoff is also a major concern. “Expansion would increase runoff into the Menomonee River and several creeks to the west and increase flow to the combines sewers to the east, adding to the likelihood of sewage overflows during severe wet Weather,” said Cheryll Nenn of the group Milwaukee Riverkeeper.

Pan, who said he watched as the construction of interstate highways in Milwaukee left Black neighborhoods “scarred by abandoned lots and a lack of local businesses," is encouraging the DOT to learn from the past. “Worsening conditions for our residents so wealthy suburbanites can shave off 30 seconds from their commute is continuing the decades of policy insults Milwaukee has had to endure, despite it being the economic engine and cultural hub of the state,” he said.

The state has scheduled public hearings on the plan Dec. 12 and 14. More information is available at wisconsindot.gov/Pages/projects/by-region/se/94stadiumint.