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First we saw what can happen when you tear down a freeway spur that slices through Downtown as the Park East freeway corridor has come alive with the Deer District and other development.
Then the Wisconsin Department of Transportation began considered the idea of removing the I-794 spur Downtown and replacing it with a boulevard as part of its study for the future of the freeway segment. (The DoT is now down to four options, including replacement in kind, two options for improving the freeway spur and tearing it down.)
Rethink 794, a volunteer advocacy group that supports removing that section of freeway, created renderings that show how that part of the city could look in the future, and later released a report by urban planner Dr. Larry Witzling.
Milwaukee’s Department of City Development looked at the idea in a draft of its Connec+ing MKE plan for Downtown, and architectural designer John Everitt created an augmented reality site so you could insert yourself, virtually, into the new spur-less landscape.
Now, students from UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning are wrapping up a semester spent looking at the long-term potential for development if the section of 794 was removed.
The students, during an Urban Design Seminar course – with faculty advisors Carolyn Esswein, associate professor and co-chair, Urban Planning, and Witzling, professor emeritus of architecture – created land-use design concepts for a 30-year timeline for the land under and adjacent to the I-794 corridor.
Based on initial ideas from Rethink 794 – whose members served as reviewers for the seminar – considered new development opportunities, public spaces, transit and more, projecting that Milwaukee could see upwards of $100 million in annual tax revenue generated by potential new development.
There are two groups of student proposals and each is based on a unique master plan following the basic traffic and transportation recommendations from Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s freeway replacement concepts for this spur.
As UWM reminds us, the Park East freeway removal idea was sparked by a student project.
The results of that exploration will be on view at a public open house on Thursday, May 1, from 2 to 5 p.m. in the corridor adjacent to the east entrance of 3rd St. Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Students who will present work are Seth Amland, Molly Burns, Michael Burrows, Dulce Carreno, Drake Dahlinghaus, Colin Flanner, Erik Heisel, Isabelle Jardas, Luke Koelsch, Isabella Lemieux, Shane O'Neil, Gordy Russell, Carl Sveen and Gabriel Zaun.
At the moment, the Department of Transportation plans an environmental impact study on the options for the freeway spur and a final decision is not expected before 2027.
If you would like to attend the free open house, enter under the skywalk on 2nd Street between Wisconsin and Michigan or through 3rd Street Market Hall. Three-hour parking vouchers provided for the InterPark The Avenue garage, the entrance of which located on Michigan Street
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
