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City engineer: WisDOT will present detailed alternatives for I‑794; city has not taken formal position
Summary
City engineers told the Public Works Committee on Jan. 8 that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has narrowed study concepts and will release detailed alternatives — including a full removal option — under an elevated federal environmental review; the city is seeking more traffic and economic analysis before taking a position.
MILWAUKEE — Kevin Muse, the city engineer, updated the Public Works Committee on Jan. 8 about the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s ongoing study of the I‑794 lakefront interchange east of the Milwaukee River.
Muse said WisDOT has been refining multiple concepts down to a smaller set of detailed alternatives that it plans to release in the next several months. The alternatives work will now accompany an environmental impact statement — the most extensive level of federal review under the National Environmental Policy Act — and will include, at a minimum, a no‑build option, a replace‑in‑kind option, a narrowed‑footprint improvement option and at least one full‑removal alternative.
Muse and DPW staff said the increased level of environmental analysis and city requests for more detailed traffic and economic development modeling have lengthened the study’s timetable. The city and Milwaukee County meet monthly with WisDOT project staff and have requested that the alternatives presentation include traffic model outputs, comparative consequences of each option, and integrated economic‑development analysis so stakeholders can assess tradeoffs.
The committee heard that the city has not taken a formal position on I‑794; Muse said the mayor has publicly said the city should be “better than where we are,” but he cautioned that the city cannot responsibly endorse a path until the department has produced the detailed analyses and model results the city has requested.
Muse told the committee that some stakeholders and advocacy groups have lobbied for full removal; he said the city has had multiple outside inquiries and that staff are encouraging the department to include the broader analyses before public outreach. Committee members asked for continued briefings as the alternatives are released and for time to review modeling outputs with staff.
Ending: DPW and city development staff will continue to coordinate with WisDOT and Milwaukee County. The committee asked the city engineer to return with summaries of the forthcoming alternatives and related traffic and economic modeling when those materials become available.
