Milwaukee area freeways

[triplemultiplex]

Call me late to breakfast, but have they decided yet on whether or not to double deck I-94?

Nothing has been decided for sure.  The draft EIS is scheduled to come out later this year and will include selection of a preferred alternative.

[colinstu]

anyone else hear about this? 54-hour long full closure of I-94 east and west around the zoo? http://www.wisn.com/news/full-freeway-closure-of-i94-scheduled-for-july-1821/26866282#!bdqN9M

Fun times!

[colinstu]

Also... Google has FINALLY updated milwaukee & vicinity aerial maps!

Google maps seems to fade between the few year old ones and new ones from 4/4/2014 depending where you are/how zoomed you're in, while Google Earth will currently show you just the new ones. Having a blast looking around at everything right now... might be easier now to actually get things on Google Map Maker now!

[triplemultiplex]

A quick note about some land that was opened up by the Marquette Interchange reconstruction.
Marquette University just bought it for future expansion of their campus (along with the blocks east and west of the vacant one.)

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/business/277739561.html

This block was once occupied by a pigtail on ramp from Clyborn Ave to WB I-94
Located here:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.03670,-87.92067&z=18&t=S
Used to look like this:
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=2000&lon=-87.906837463379&lat=43.041809082031&year=2005

The block was used as a staging area for the Marquette rebuild and has sat empty since the project wrapped.  This is good news for MKE, since I don't think it will take long for Marquette University to start building stuff there and rejuvenate this little corner of downtown.

[Milwaukee, WY]

Anyone have any insight as to why WisDOT halted plans for an I-94 interchange at Calhoun Rd.?  It came up in a discussion on another forum and I have no idea what happened to it. I remember the freeway being rebuilt over Calhoun a few years ago, but no ramps were ever installed. If I had to guess, perhaps it had something to do with the local match?

[colinstu]

There were plans for an interchange there? 94 was built over Calhoun decades ago... sure there was a repaving project not that long ago but an interchange was never apart of it.

After some googling I guess there was some talk of it (and plans being drawn) but it sounded like some locals didn't want it. I believe its proximity to Moorland Blvd 1 mile west also isn't helping. If there truly was a traffic problem here, they'd build it. But with WisDOT's upgrades to Greenfield & Bluemound roads which are parallel to 94, they think those are more than capable of getting drivers to Calhoun. (I believe so too).

I'm sure there will be an interchange built there eventually... but it's going to be well over 10 yrs away.

I'd love to see them change up WI-16 with I-94... make it a full T interchange or something (and do something interesting with Hwy T / Grandview Rd)

[tchafe1978]

I grew up in Brookfield not far from where I-94 goes over Calhoun Rd. There was talk for years about building an interchange at Calhoun Rd., or even a split diamond between Brookfield Rd. and Calhoun Rd. Part of the argument for it was that it would help serve the large corporate park just east of Brookfield Rd. north of I-94 and south of Bluemound Rd. But local residents were against it as it would bring too much more traffic onto local streets. I would have been against it too. the nearby interchanges at US 18/Barker Rd and Moorland Rd. are enough. The I-94 bridges over Calhoun Rd were rebuilt a few years ago when Calhoun Rd. was widened through the area. I don't know that there were ever official plans for an interchange, however.

[triplemultiplex]

I remember Calhoun Rd being mentioned in SEWRPC's regional freeway study some 15 years ago.  Nothing more than they recommended looking at it as a possibility.
It probably will never happen because it's not really needed.  Plus there would be impacts to parks and wetlands.
WisDOT replaced the bridges a few years ago so Calhoun Rd could be expanded to four lanes between Blue Mound and Greenfield.

I would speculate there is no service interchange between Moorland and Barker because back in the day, that would've been the area for the system interchange with the proposed Belt Freeway.

[tchafe1978]

You're probably right about that being the area (between Brookfield Rd and Calhoun Rd) for the proposed interchange with the Belt Freeway. Growing up we still had farm fields in our back yard until I was in high school. It was one of the last prime undeveloped areas in Brookfield, and I remember my mom telling me once that there was once a freeway planned to go through there. So instead of having cornfields and an old farmstead to play in as a kid, I could have had a freeway in our back yard.

[colinstu]

DEIS is out. Got mail about the PIM too (december).

http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/seregion/94stadiumint/docs/I-94_East-West_Corridor_DEIS_November_2014.pdf

http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/seregion/94stadiumint/environ.htm

[colinstu]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/traffic/transportation-panel-adds-2-major-road-projects-totalling-670-million-b99400811z1-284402741.html

JSonline article about some new projects (that need to be approved!) and how some other projects were scrapped @ the end of article.

[jhuntin1]

At least someone is thinking about widening I-43 between Silver Spring and WI-60. The Milwaukee County section could surely use widening, but does the Ozaukee County section merit it? At least it finally got repaved over the summer.

[colinstu]

That's already been talked about for awhile. Check out http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/seregion/43/public.htm for all the plans (new interchange design, widening, etc). Can't wait for that to move forward.

Yeah between Silver Spring and North Ave definitely needs a rework too (at least 4 lanes... or 3 + 2 CD lanes each way or something). South of Marquette to Howard Ave also needs a similar upgrade. But those will probably not happen until much after 2020 if I had to guess...

[FightingIrish]

At least someone is thinking about widening I-43 between Silver Spring and WI-60. The Milwaukee County section could surely use widening, but does the Ozaukee County section merit it? At least it finally got repaved over the summer.

Efforts to widen I-43 in northern Milwaukee County have long been stymied by north shore NIMBYs, who apparently preferred bottlenecks, traffic jams and accidents to an actual free-flowing busy highway.

And the lane expansion to Grafton makes sense. Ozaukee County has been growing rapidly, and there has been very heavy retail development around TH60 over the past few years.

[triplemultiplex]

I-43 through the rich north shore suburbs has always been a terrible facility.  Poor sightlines, short ramps, no left shoulder, it floods easily under Greentree and Good Hope. The transition from 3 lanes to 2 NB is a daily bottleneck.  WisDOT has a study going, as colinstu pointed out that's been active for a few years now.  My own observations have been that Grafton would be a good place to end/start the 6-lane facility.  The JS mentions traffic counts not keeping pace, but that freeway needs to be improved to handle what it already gets.

South of this project, some auxiliary lanes between exits would help things a bit as an interim improvement.  This would require widening some overpasses as there is not enough room between existing support columns.

I was not aware of any formal study about a bypass around Beloit.  I assume that would've been around the south side into IL since it talks about interstate cooperation and junk.

[davenh]

The Hoan Bridge project moves into phase 2 this weekend. Changes include:

• All traffic will be moved to the just-completed I-794 E sections of road.
• The Milwaukee St ramp from I-794 W, which was used as an entrance ramp to head to the south, will close. However, the Broadway Ave ramp will reopen and be used to head south over the Hoan.
• The Jackson/Van Buren exit to go into downtown will close. They had been using the on-ramp to the WB roadway as an exit ramp going east. This will "flip" now, as what would be the exit ramp going EB will be used as an on-ramp to go west.
• Traffic going through the Lakefront Interchange east to south will use the regular eastbound to southbound road. Traffic going from south to west will now go down what would be the on-ramp from Lincoln Memorial Dr to go south across the Hoan Bridge, then come up what would be the off-ramp from I-794 E to the lakefront.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article here: http://www.jsonline.com/news/traffic/dot-warns-of-downtown-ramp-closures-b99406573z1-285339271.html
Wisconsin DOT Hoan Bridge Project site: http://projects.511wi.gov/web/hoan-bridge-project

[SSOWorld]

http://projects.511wi.gov/web/hoan-bridge-project/project-history

nice - Bessert got a nod from WisDOT on the Hoan history

[Milwaukee, WY]

WisDOT has decided against the double decker option for I-94 between the stadium and 70th Street. Read more here:

State rejects double-deck lanes for I-94 east-west

[The Ghostbuster]

Personally, I would have put that stretch of Interstate 94 into a tunnel. However, that would have required a full six month closure, and would have jacked up the price. Still, 11 foot lanes with 2 foot shoulders is going to be unpleasant. It may please the neighbors, but it's going to present problems down the road.

[colinstu]

This sucks I hope something at that meeting makes them change their minds and pick the correct choice.

[triplemultiplex]

I don't think the expense of the double-deck option is worth it.  Especially for a bunch of dead bodies.

The whole thing is extremely silly, in my opinion.  We'll force dozens of living people to leave their homes and places of work to expand highways, but godforbid we have to move one single worm-eaten corpse. :roll


WisDOT made the correct decision.  It's not worth another $100 million or whatever.
Maybe someday people will get over their icky feelings about cemeteries and we'll turn them into useful public spaces in our cities.

[jhuntin1]

Driving home from Milwaukee yesterday and I heard a WisDOT spot on the radio talking about the upcoming Zoo Interchange construction. It said that one of the ramps, I-894 north to I-94 west I think, is going to be closed until the end of 2015. It then said that the ramp from I-94 west to I-894 south is going to be closed until the end of 2017. Did I hear that wrong, or is that ramp really going to be closed for 3 years?

[jwags]

Driving home from Milwaukee yesterday and I heard a WisDOT spot on the radio talking about the upcoming Zoo Interchange construction. It said that one of the ramps, I-894 north to I-94 west I think, is going to be closed until the end of 2015. It then said that the ramp from I-94 west to I-894 south is going to be closed until the end of 2017. Did I hear that wrong, or is that ramp really going to be closed for 3 years?

You heard it right. 3 years.

[colinstu]

The announcement was made a couple weeks ago.

Marquette and Mitchell projects had some pretty big and long closures too. It's going to suck before it gets better, nothing new.

Sure the doubledecker would be expensive, but even if they did chop into the grave sites I still don't think they'd manage to have a full interchange with Hawley, unless they really bit into the land on each side and actually had room for all the C-D lanes like they planned with the double decker. Taking just enough land for 12" lanes and proper shoulders still wouldn't allow for enough room / etc for full Hawley access.

[Milwaukee, WY]

I don't think the expense of the double-deck option is worth it.  Especially for a bunch of dead bodies.

The whole thing is extremely silly, in my opinion.  We'll force dozens of living people to leave their homes and places of work to expand highways, but godforbid we have to move one single worm-eaten corpse. :roll


WisDOT made the correct decision.  It's not worth another $100 million or whatever.
Maybe someday people will get over their icky feelings about cemeteries and we'll turn them into useful public spaces in our cities.

I completely agree with you. I don't think that the double deck action was at all worth the money it would've cost. I also live in the area, and Story Hill is one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city of Milwaukee. It really wouldn't be worth potentially ruining that neighborhood just to avoid moving dead people. Those people are long gone and I seriously doubt that they would care about it. The solution that they came up with isn't without its flaws of course, but is a pretty good compromise.