ST. FRANCIS, Wis. — If the proposed changes that could come to Interstate 794 go through, it could have major impacts on commuting in the Milwaukee area as we know it.
"People say that the freeway divides the downtown; putting that traffic onto the ground will divide it even more,” said Kendall Breunig.
Kendall Breunig is one of the many people who reached out to the St. Francis Mayor and City Administrator after conversations around the traffic calming measures began to get louder.
Right now, the proposal that worries them is one that would leave drivers looking for alternatives if I-794 is torn down and replaced with surface streets downtown.
"It's the lifeblood of not only St. Francis, but the whole South Shore,” said St. Francis Mayor Ken Tutaj.
"If you bring that traffic down 73,000 cars and 17,000 trucks down to Clybourn Avenue, that it's likely to cause significant delays,” said Mark Johnsrud, St. Francis City Administrator.
Concerns are also shared by people like Sonia Oliden-Lee who lives in Oak Creek.
Her family relies on the expressway every day and the idea of such a significant change worries her.
“Especially since downtown is hurting so much for people to come in and patronize its businesses, whether it's going to the arts or Public Market, and that's only going to make it harder for people from the suburbs to get over to Milwaukee,” said Oliden-Lee.
St. Francis city leaders plan to sit down with the leaders of other suburbs, including Cudahy and South Milwaukee, in the coming weeks to figure out how to move forward with their concerns.
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