Advocates for removing the portion of I-794 between downtown Milwaukee and the Historic Third Ward expressed disappointment with a new study from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which explained the shortfalls of the freeway removal alternative. While removing the freeway segment could create an opportunity for up to $490 million in new development by 2050, the study said it would cost significantly more to tear it down and replace it with a city street grid than repairing or modifying the existing freeway and would result in more traffic and vehicular crashes.

Members of the citizen-led advocacy group, Rethink 794, which supports the removal of the freeway segment, say development of the land within its footprint would improve the city.

“Having an elevated highway through the most valuable real estate in the state of Wisconsin is not an efficient use of land,” said Montavious Jones, a principal with Milwaukee-based Navarte Development and a volunteer with Rethink 794. “It’s unattractive for us to have development sites right now next to the highway that we cannot build. . . And that’s not what’s captured with any of DOT’s prerogatives.”

Taylor Korslin, design associate with Milwaukee-based architecture and interior design firm Deep River Partners and another member of Rethink 794, said it would be “transformational” to have more housing opportunities, jobs and the chance to grow the tax base by developing the land underneath I-794.

“We have changing household sizes and demographics that require different community needs. We have shifted to more and more virtual work for office users,” Korslin said. “So, having a highway through the most valuable real estate is not an efficient use of land and does not help us face all the challenges that we have as a city and a state.”

Development within the freeway corridor could bring much needed housing development to the city, Jones said.

“Milwaukee, like every other city in the country, is in a housing crisis,” he said. “There would be developers and users of this land who would be very interested in taking part of creating an entirely new neighborhood, and that could be anything from new hospitality, new office buildings, open space — affordable housing.”

WisDOT estimates it would cost $850 million to $1.25 billion to demolish I-794 between downtown and the Third Ward and replace it with a street grid, and estimates that it would take four to six years to complete. It estimates the cost to repair the existing freeway structure at $425 million to $575 million and estimates the cost to modify the freeway at $675 million to $1 billion.

Jones expressed skepticism at WisDOT’s cost estimates for the project and its projected traffic impact from removing the freeway.

“DOT’s prerogative is moving cars,” he said. “So, every argument they have is going to be framed through that lens.”

Korslin echoed those sentiments, stating that “DOT has been wrong before,” casting doubts on this study’s traffic projections based on a former study on the Park East Freeway, which was removed in 2003.

A spokesperson for WisDOT said all plans are currently being studied and emphasized that no alternative has been eliminated, and said that the cost of the freeway removal includes an expansion of Clybourn Street to handle increased traffic loads, making it more expensive than other alternatives.

However, not everyone in the real estate industry is eager to see the freeway demolished to create development opportunities. Tracy Johnson, president of the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin, said that while removing the freeway would create land available for development, there is no guarantee that there would be demand to support it.

“If you clear all that land to create the opportunity, will there be the demand?” Johnson said. “We heard that (question) and we continue to hear that from property owners right now.”

The WisDOT study highlights the 2.7-acre site southwest of Clybourn Street and Lincoln Memorial Drive, freed up by the reconfiguration and reconstruction of I-794’s Lake Interchange in 2017. But that site remains vacant, which Johnson pointed to as an example of a nearby land development opportunity that has not been realized.

Opponents of removing I-794 have said it will hurt downtown and the Third Ward by making it more difficult to access, a point that is supported by the traffic impact conclusions of the WisDOT study.

“The reality is from an economic standpoint, it does matter,” Johnson said. “People will be less willing to go to the office if it takes them an hour versus 20 minutes. So, when you make a huge investment in your office space or your real estate, that is a huge consideration.”

But Jones said the benefits from the development opportunities created by removing I-794 outweigh the negative impact it will have on traffic.

“Today people are locating and making decisions about where they’re going to live based on the amenities, based on the quality of life that a city can offer them and high on the list you will not find ‘can I get in and out of downtown in my car,’” he said.