Replacing I-794 with surface streets would bring 3,000 housing units over 30 years, study says

Replacing part of downtown Milwaukee’s Interstate 794 with surface streets could generate more than 3,000 housing units, and $535 million in property and sales taxes, over 30 years, a new study says.

The study is sponsored by Rethink 794, a group of environmentalists, urbanists and others who favor the freeway’s replacement. It was done in partnership with veteran urban planner Larry Witzling.

Witzling’s analysis focuses on potential developments over three decades in space freed up by the freeway’s removal between the Hoan Bridge and North Sixth Street.

Parcels further west may also become available for growth, according to the study released Thursday.

The construction of more than 3,000 housing units on 10 blocks would create $475 million in property taxes, Witzling estimated, with new downtown residents also generating $60 million in city sales taxes.

Those new residents would spend $3 billion in disposable income over 30 years − providing benefits for downtown stores, restaurants and other businesses, according to the study.

It assumes building types, rents and prices would be mixed, with 20% of those housing units classified as affordable.

Rethink 794 released the study as the Wisconsin Department of Transportation considers options for I-794.

WisDOT in 2023 disclosed seven conceptual plans to repair I-794 and two plans to remove it.

Along with a freeway removal option, the agency in early 2025 plans to narrow those plans to one option to rebuild freeway bridges within I-794’s current alignment and keep all existing freeway access ramps, and another option to rebuild bridges with a tightened alignment that consolidates ramps.

Final decisions could come in 2025 or 2026 on I-794 project

WisDOT will choose a preferred alternative after gathering additional public input.

Final design work could occur in 2025 and 2026, with construction work starting in 2027 or 2028 if the $300 million project obtains federal and state funding.

Witzling is a professor emeritus from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning. He was a principal at Graef, a Milwaukee-based design, engineering and planning firm, when he received the American Planning Association’s 2017 National Excellence Award for Planning Pioneers.

Witzling’s estimates are based on decades of slow-growth changes in downtown, including the Park East corridor. He contributed to the plan to replace that freeway stub with development, which now includes Fiserv Forum’s parking structure, apartments and The Trade hotel.

I-794 traffic could be accommodated with such changes as a four-lane, two-way Clybourn Boulevard, Witzling said.

Some downtown property owners and business operators are opposed to replacing the freeway with surface streets. They’re concerned that I-794’s replace would bring traffic congestion, including in the Historic Third Ward.

The freeway sections that would be repaired date to 1974. They weren’t touched when part of I-794 was reconstructed from 2013 through 2016 — a $239 million project that included rebuilding the Hoan Bridge’s concrete deck.

None of WisDOT’s plans call for removing the Hoan Bridge. But the Clybourn Street bridge could be redesigned to reduce the number of lifts–which happen frequently during summer tour boat season.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, X and Facebook.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Removing Milwaukee I-794 would bring housing, tax revenue, study says

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