Civil Right Groups, Environmentalists Team Up to Block Milwaukee Highway Expansion

An already troubled proposal to widen the I-94 Freeway in Milwaukee has now encountered a legal setback.

1 minute read

March 8, 2017, 6:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


I-94

Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock

"Civil rights and environmental groups sued the state Department of Transportation this week to block the expansion of I-94 in Milwaukee," reports Patrick Marley.

In February, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker proposed a delay of funding for the project during the state's budget process. The lawsuit is expected to make the project even more difficult to deliver, according to Marley.

A press release by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, posted by Urban Milwaukee, also shares the news about the legal challenge to the highway construction proposal.

[O]rganizations supporting racial and environmental justice – the NAACP Milwaukee Branch, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter, and Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH) – filed suit in federal court in Milwaukee, seeking to block the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s efforts to spend over $1 billion dollars to rebuild and expand I-94 between 16th and 70th Streets when it is refusing to include necessary public transit expansion as part of the project.

Thursday, March 2, 2017 in Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

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