Interstate 94 highway expansion facing legal challenge

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) --- There are potential legal challenges ahead for Wisconsin's Interstate 94 expansion. A group of activist organizations are coming together in a new federal lawsuit against state and federal officials behind the highway expansion plans.

Those backing the lawsuit say the project plan comes with some proposed environment and public transit concerns.

"With highway expansion, there's more runoff of pollutants into local waterways," said Cheryl Nenn with Milwaukee Riverkeeper, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting our water quality and keeping the environment safe.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper has joined a coalition of activists who have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the I-94 expansion plan. The project is looking to add two additional lanes, expanding the highway from six to eight lanes in Milwaukee from 16th Street to 70th Street and rebuilding the Stadium Interchange.

The project is expected to take up to seven years and cost more than a billion dollars. Milwaukee Riverkeeper has serious concerns about the environmental impact.

"We have concerns over this increasing trend of expanding highways, disinvesting in transit systems, and the end result of that is bad for the environment and bad for our communities," said Nenn.

In addition to Milwaukee Riverkeeper, the coalition also includes the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, and the Sierra Club.

Legal Action of Wisconsin is part of the coalition's legal team and is assisting in the case against the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation.

"They didn't look at or seriously consider all the things the law requires them to seriously consider, and we think that they should not be able to move forward until they address those issues they failed to address," said Karyn Rotker, Legal Action of Wisconsin attorney.

Rotker feels their case has a strong chance and points to a similar legal challenge from about a decade ago.

"When the Zoo Interchange case happened, the judge thought it was a strong case at that point, and the judge said that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits," she said.

Rotker says this highway project poses even more risk to the community. "If you look at where the Zoo Interchange is, there are a lot fewer people living on top of it than there are on this segment of 94, and so I think the conditions and exposure of the community are worse in this case ...which makes this case stronger," she said.

The Department of Transportation does not comment on pending legal action.