Report: I-94 expansion environmentally OK

Federal and state transportation authorities endorsed plans to expand I-94 to eight lanes in the 35-mile stretch from the Mitchell Interchange to the state line, in a revised environmental impact statement issued today.

The report was prepared as part of the approval process for the freeway reconstruction and expansion, which would represent the largest highway project in state history at a cost of $1.9 billion.

Assessing the need for the project and the potential environmental impact, the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration determined that an additional lane in each direction is necessary to handle projected traffic on the important corridor.

Additional lanes are expected to reduce projected drive times in various parts of the corridor by 10 minutes in 2035, the final year covered in the study period, according to the report.

The transportation officials also wrote that the project would not violate federal clean air laws. They project that emissions in the area would decrease through 2035, based on expected reductions in traffic congestion and improvements in emission controls on vehicles over the coming decades.

Opponents of the freeways expansion, including the ACLU, Midwest Environmental Advocates and the 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, have argued that the analysis is flawed and the project as proposed fails to meet federal environmental laws.

The pollution estimates presented by the DOT and FWHA do not take into account additional traffic volume "induced" by the expanded freeway. Several studies have shown that additional highway lanes result in tons of additional carbon monoxide emissions.

In addition, expansion opponents have charged that the project takes money from needed transit improvements and therefore has a disparate impact on minorities and low-income residents who don't own cars and rely on public transportation.

Those points could serve as the basis for a federal lawsuit seeking to block the project.

The report also maintains the reconstruction design that eliminates access to S. 27th St. for traffic traveling from northbound I-94 onto westbound I-894.

Business leaders in the area mounted a strong campaign to maintain that exit ramp and one that allows traffic heading south on 27th St. to access southbound I-94 in the same interchange.

A 30-day comment period follows release of the impact study, and will lead to a final decision by the Federal Highway Administration. That decision, whether to approve the preferred expansion alternative, is expected in late May.