DOT Holds 2 More Meetings on East-West Freeway Plan

Open house-style meetings Tuesday and Wednesday will offer more information on planning for rebuilding Interstate 94 from 70th Street just south of Wauwatosa to 26th Street in Milwaukee.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will host the meetings from:

• 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Tommy Thompson Youth Center, State Fair Park, 640 S. 84th St., and
• 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Marquette University High School, 3401 W. Wisconsin Ave.

The meetings will provide updated studies of alternatives that are being considered, according to the DOT, including three-dimensional renderings. For the first time, information will be given on impacts to real estate and the environment.

"No final decisions have been made regarding changes in the corridor," says a DOT release. "A recommended alternative has not yet been identified."

The current timeline for the project calls for planning and design through 2018, with construction to begin only in 2019 when the Zoo Interchange Project is expected to be complete.

One more set of meetings will be offered this summer – dates yet to be announced – before a recommendation on route modifications will be made this fall.

A couple of touchstone questions have risen around preliminary planning, including one that could affect Wauwatosa neighborhoods, businesses and commuters.

One alternative brought up last year for the modified corridor would be removing the 68th/70th Streets interchange all together. The DOT believes a leading cause of accidents in the corridor is having too many on-off ramps too close together, and that Hawley Road to the east and 84th Street to the west could serve the area while improving safety.

The idea has not sat well with Wauwatosans for whom North 68th Street is the major local artery serving Hyde Park (at 68th and Wells), the State Street business corridor and even North Avenue in East Tosa.

A matter of contention since the beginning of consideration of rebuilding the corridor has been the fate of portions Wood National Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark, if the decision is made to widen the freeway.