I-94 East-West project receives federal approval

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The I-94 east-west widening project in Milwaukee is getting the green light from the federal government.

The Federal Highway Administration announced Friday that it supports the state DOT's recommended reconstruction of I-94 between 70th Street and 16th Street. 

The authorization means the project can now advance into final design and construction. 

The project would eliminate left-hand exit and entrance ramps, right-size the Stadium Interchange to a diverging diamond interchange and reconstruct the full corridor with four through lanes in each direction. 

The project has a long and controversial history. In 2017, then-Governor Scott Walker paused the project. 

"He referred to the inability of the state to have enough funds to move forward in the project in a timely way," said Dennis Grzezinski the legal chair of the Sierra Club. 

The Sierra Club is just one of many groups that has opposed the expansion.

In 2022, the project went back on the table. In January of 2023, a federal civil rights investigation was opened into the environmental effects of the expansion as well as how it could impact Black and Hispanic communities disproportionately.

"The voices of the communities that were most deprived back then are still muted, still less well heard, not fully represented," said Grzezinski.

Now, the expansion has the greenlight from the Federal Highway Administration. District 4 Alderman Robert Bauman wants to know why the project was approved before the results of the civil rights investigation were published.

"It is odd that the Federal Highway Administration, which is a division of the Department of Transportation would greenlight a project while another branch of the U.S Department of Transposition is taking a civil review of the project. I think it's very odd," said Bauman. 

The Department of Transportation argues eight lanes will reduce rush hour congestion.

"The end result over and over again is that after a number of years, the level of congestion, after spending billions of dollars adding lanes, is essentially unchanged from what it was before the lanes were added," said Grzezinski.

Critics say the expansion would have large environmental effects.

"The highway mentality is none of that matters. We gotta build them, expand them, and expand them again," said Bauman. "I'd like to see that money invested in our public transportation system."

The project is slated to begin in 2025.