Regional Agency Mulls Milwaukee Freeway Widenings

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission staff presented the idea as part of a study on how to rebuild the entire area's freeway system over the next 20 to 30 years, according to the paper. The planning commission's assistant director said current freeway lanes in the county probably wouldn't be able to handle growing traffic, even with a majorexpansion of local streets and public transit lines and with significant improvements in land-use planning. The Journal Sentinel reported that local officials and environmentalists are already worried about the prospects ofbulldozing homes, businesses, and graveyards to add freeway lanes. Concern over cemeteries killed a 1997 plan to widen Interstate 94 fromdowntown Milwaukee to Waukesha.