The mayor of Milwaukee is abandoning a proposal to scrap a half-century-old freeway out of fear of upsetting the region’s motorists, setting aside years of findings that highway removals help revitalize Rust Belt downtowns for the 21st century.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson announced on July 8 he wanted to maintain the elevated Interstate 794 known as the Lake Interchange, which stretches between the Marquette Interchange and the Hoan Bridge and is approaching the end of its useful life. State transportation officials have been weighing alternative proposals for fixing or removing the freeway.
Johnson rejected replacing the highway with at-grade boulevards that connect to the street grid because he worried drivers would get stuck in traffic.
“Any mayor across the country would love to have this same thing,” Johnson said at a press conference. “However, given the challenges that I mentioned, given the decades of established traffic patterns here, I think it makes it a little more difficult for us to be able to accomplish what some have imagined could be accomplished with taking the freeway down.”…