Elevated highway demolition eyed in Milwaukee

A stretch of Interstate 794 in Milwaukee is being pointed to by urban planners as a prior highway project mistake that should be corrected, or at least updated.

News coverage in the region indicates a stretch of the interstate leading to and from downtown Milwaukee was built in 1974 and is in line for repairs and upgrades. It could provide an opportunity to remove portions of the highway, or attached ramps, that have divided neighborhoods from each other for nearly 50 years.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel coverage of the potential project indicates a Madison, Wisconsin-based environmental advocacy group called 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin contends considerable redevelopment could take place on the 32.5 acres that lie beneath the elevated stretch of I-794 along part of Milwaukee’s southern border.

That group is recommending a surface boulevard and subsequent redevelopment that could include apartments, office buildings and retail that could have a value of $1.5 billion, says the newspaper.

In a late September report, Milwaukee TV station Fox6 instead focuses only on the removal of what some of the sources it contacted consider underutilized on and off ramps along I-794.

Real estate developer Bruce Westling is quoted by the TV station as saying merely removing two underutilized ramps would present “real opportunity from a development standpoint.”

Westling says reconsidering whether to redevelop all or part of I-794 could be a way “to slow traffic down and make the pedestrian experience better,” which he says “is going to have a positive impact on retail, as well as restaurant business” in that part of Milwaukee.

The 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin group makes a similar case, writing, in part, “The land beneath I-794 is some of the most valuable in Wisconsin. Boulevard conversion could generate $15 million in annual property tax revenue for the City of Milwaukee and deliver much needed new housing in a high demand area. Rethinking I-794 as a surface-level boulevard and reconnecting the grid will reduce congestion [and] pedestrians will enjoy enhanced access to Lake Michigan from the Third Ward, as well as the several regional trails in the area.”