SEWRPC doesn't reveal all
Downplays HNTB participation in freeway study

Nov. 1, 2005 -- A top SEWRPC official last week downplayed the HNTB consulting firm's role and influence in a regional freeway reconstruction study, assuring I-94 North South neighbors that the firm did not make recommendations in the study.

SEWRPC Associate Director Ken Yunker, however, failed to mention a key role HNTB did play: The politically-connected firm was charged with advising SEWRPC officials as they made the big decisions about how they thought the region's freeway should be rebuilt.

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission paid HNTB $880,000 for its work on the regional freeway reconstruction study that resulted in a recommendation to expand the region's freeways. HNTB now has been hired by the state to work on environmental and engineering studies to determine whether the same freeways should be expanded.

The dual HNTB role was questioned by a resident at the neighborhood meeting, who asked if HNTB might have already made up its corporate mind about freeway expansion.

"They made no recommendations" in the SEWRPC study, Yunker said during the meeting, organized by Ald. Terry Witkowski and the 13th District Neighborhood Association. "If you go through our report, you'll never see anything HNTB recommend(s). They made no recommendations."

HNTB both developed and evaluated the reconstruction alternatives the SEWRPC study's Advisory Committee was given to consider, according to the the firm's SEWRPC contract.

To read the contract, click here.

HNTB also had another in with the Advisory Committee. Firm President Ken Graham also served as president of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin. TDA, which represents road building interests in the state, was a member of the SEWRPC freeway study Advisory Committee that oversaw and approved the work of HNTB.

Freeway reconstruction could extend to 27th St., Holt Ave.
Area included in environmental study; more homes at risk

Oct. 10, 2005 -- The North-South I-94 reconstruction project could extend as far north as the Holt Ave. interchange and as far west as the W. 27th St. interchange on I-894, according to the State Department of Transportaiton.

That is a larger area than previously discussed by the department.

WisDOT spokeswoman Peg Schmitt said no decision on final reconstruction boundaries has been made, but the larger area will be included in environmental studies for the project.

An additional 23 city homes would be put at risk by the moving the project line north from the Mitchell Interchange, which WisDOT repeatedly has described as an end point for the project.

The change would raise to 72 the total number of Milwaukee homes that might be torn down for the freeway project, according to reconstruction recommendations made in a study by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

Despite repeated requests, SEWRPC refuses to identify specific properties that would be destroyed under its recommendations.

WisDOT, which funded the SEWRPC study, now is embarking on environmental and engineering studies of its own.

Schmitt said in an e-mail that project boundaries were expanded for the environmental study "to fully examine lane approaches, ramp spacing, highway curvature, safety and other infrastructure and traffic-related issues. These termini do not necessarily establish potential construction areas for the project, as construction may not occur out to these full extents."

The state studies are expected to last through 2008. A final decision on the exact reconstruction boundaries will made be when the environmental study is done, Schmitt said.

Safety, schmafety
WisDOT delays reconstructing freeway stretch that needs it most

Aug. 29, 2005 -- The stretch of freeway most in need of reconstruction won't rebuilt until after three to five less urgent freeway reconstruction projects in the Milwaukee area are done or underway, according to WisDOT records.

The records also show that safety concerns, cited by WisDOT as justification for destroying dozens of homes and businesses in Milwaukee, are not important enough to govern reconstruction priorities.

I-43 from the Mitchell Interchange to Silver Spring Dr. ranked as the top priority for reconstruction under two scenarios that considered safety, road conditions and structure conditions, according to documents obtained through an Open Records request. One of the scenarios also considered congestion and design deficiencies.

A WisDOT leadership team, though, said I-43 segment should be the sixth segment to be reconstructed, and the project was later tossed into a pool of three second-tier priorities that will be completed after three top-tier priorities are at least underway.

Those top three include the I-94 North-South project; the Zoo Interchange and U.S. 45 north to Richfield; and I-94 from State Highway 16 to the Marquette Interchange, according to the WisDOT documents.

Joining the I-43 project in the second tier bucket are I-894 from the Zoo Interchange to the Mitchell Interchange, and I-43 from Silver Spring to the northern Ozaukee County line. The WisDOT leadership team ranked them ahead of the I-43 Mitchell Interchange to Silver Spring project.

WisDOT talking points say the North-South corridor was moved to the top spot in part because an environmental assessment was completed in 1996 for Interchange reconstruction in Racine and Kenosha Counties.

That assessment, according to the talking points "does not preclude additional capacity being added to the mainline."

Other North - South Corridor pages

1st North-South Corridor page

2nd North-South Corridor page

3rd North-South Corridor page

4th North-South Corridor page

5th North-South Corridor page

6th North-South Corridor page

7th North-South Corridor page

8th North-South Corridor page