Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett testifies about why he thinks a double-decker freeway for a stretch of I-94 east-west is a bad idea and a waste of money. Barrett was among dozens who spoke Wednesday at a public hearing at State Fair Park on proposed freeway project. Credit: Michael Sears

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Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Wednesday asked state transportation officials to reject a proposed $345 million double-decked section over 2,000 feet of the I-94 east-west freeway in Milwaukee.

While Barrett criticized the double-deck as too costly, transportation officials at a public hearing Wednesday at State Fair Park heard from West Allis officials who testified they would accept the elevated freeway if there was no other way to provide a full interchange at Hawley Road.

The West Allis Common Council Tuesday approved a resolution in support of the double-decked proposal with that important qualification, Mayor Dan Devine said.

A full interchange at Hawley Road is needed to provide commuters access to employers along the road, Devine said.

The elevated deck is a major component of a state proposed $1.15 billion expansion of the I-94 east-west corridor in Milwaukee. It would not be possible to provide space for a full Hawley Road interchange and build an eight-lane freeway unless the double-decked section is built, according to options being considered by the state Department of Transportation.

Before the project makes it off the drawing board, state officials already are scrambling to fill a multibillion-dollar shortfall over the next decade in the state transportation fund.

The DOT is asking the Legislature for $750 million in new taxes and fees over the next two years along with $805 million in new borrowing.

Rebuilding the six-lane freeway as it is along a nearly 3.5-mile section between 16th and 70th streets would cost an estimated $379 million, according to the department's draft environmental impact study.

The department eliminated that option because it would not improve safety and its analysis showed the need for eight lanes, said Brian Bliesner, project development chief for the department. Bliesner spoke Wednesday at the public hearing, which was attended by hundreds, with more than two dozen testifying in the first two hours of the four-hour session.

West of 70th St., the freeway is being rebuilt to eight lanes as part of the Zoo Interchange project.

A decision on how the east-west corridor east of 70th St. will be rebuilt likely will be made in 2015, Bliesner said. Construction could begin in 2019.

Expanding the freeway to eight lanes would cost up to $1.15 billion, the study says. The estimate includes engineering and design work, right of way acquisitions, utility relocation and construction.

This piece of the freeway was opened in 1963. In its 51 years of service, the concrete roadbed and gravel base have deteriorated and need to be replaced, according to transportation officials.

Remaking the freeway in line with modern standards will eliminate closely spaced interchanges and left-side entrance and exit ramps.

Those changes will increase safety on the roadway, the department's study said. About 2,230 vehicle crashes occurred along the corridor from 2005 to 2009, or roughly 1.2 crashes a day.

Serving future traffic volumes is another reason for the makeover and expansion, officials said in the study.

This section of freeway carries between 143,000 to 160,500 vehicles on an average weekday. By 2040, traffic volumes are expected to rise to around 160,000 to 186,000 vehicles per weekday.

But opponents of expansion claim vehicle numbers are dropping. A 2014 report by 1000 Friends of Wisconsin found that traffic counts on this stretch of highway decreased 8% from 2000 to 2012.

Bliesner countered Wednesday that traffic on the corridor has been increasing about 1% a year since 1985.

In an eight-lane expansion, as many as 13 residences and 10 businesses would be acquired for the proposed expansion, the study determined.

No graves would be moved from cemeteries along the corridor, including Wood National and Spring Hill to the south, Calvary and Beth Hamedrosh Hagodel on the north.

West of the Stadium Interchange, the department has proposed adding a lane in each direction by converting the outside shoulder to a fourth lane.

But lane width would narrow to 11 feet, rather than standard 12 feet, through the cemetery section, under one option. The freeway corridor is pinched there to a width of only 400 feet at its narrowest bottleneck. But the tightest squeeze extends for a distance of only 120 feet or so in the center of that stretch.

An alternative to squeezing eight lanes into this narrow slot is building a double-deck freeway between 62nd St. and Mitchell Blvd.

In the deck option, the eastbound lanes would be located over the westbound lanes for around 2,000 feet through the cemetery area.

Cost of the double deck is estimated at $295 million to $345 million, according to a transportation department report.

Milwaukee Common Council President Michael Murphy opposes the expansion plans, particularly the proposed upper deck.

The elevated deck would boost vehicle air pollution and noise levels in nearby neighborhoods, as well as reduce property values, according to Murphy.

At Wednesday's hearing, Barrett said expanding the freeway to eight lanes in the 2,000 foot section would cost $125 million — a savings of $220 million from the highest estimate for a double deck.

Barrett said the city opposes any widening of the freeway between the Zoo Interchange and downtown. He acknowledged state officials already have decided to go ahead with eight lanes.

Walter Sturgeon and several other West Allis residents spoke in favor of a double deck at the hearing. Sturgeon said it would improve safety and save lives, as well as preserve a full Hawley Road interchange.

"What is a human life worth," Sturgeon said.

Rather than pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into expansion of the corridor, some opponents told the transportation department to move ahead with rebuilding the roadway with needed safety improvements.

WISPIRG, a consumer advocacy group in Madison, and the statewide Coalition for More Responsible Transportation would add mass transit options, from enhanced bus service to rail transit.

A second public hearing will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Marquette University High School, 3401 W. Wisconsin Ave. Enter from the Michigan St. parking lot.

The public can mail written testimony to the department after the hearings. Correspondence can be sent to: Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 141 NW Barstow St., P.O. Box 798, Waukesha, WI 53187-0798. Letters must be postmarked no later than Jan. 13, 2015.

Comments can be emailed to the department — Jason.Lynch@dot.wi.gov — no later than Jan. 13.

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