The Marquette Interchange Project in Milwaukee

There is an old joke that northern states like Wisconsin have two seasons: winter and construction. But work on Milwaukee’s Marquette Interchange Project is proving that highway construction can be undertaken year-round. With a completion date set for 2008, the massive construction endeavor involves a complete overhaul of Wisconsin’s largest and most notorious highway interchange.

Connecting three different interstates (I-94, I-43, and I-794) at the southern edge of Milwaukee’s downtown, the “old” Marquette Interchange was already a massive conglomeration of concrete. Part of the stacked highway interchange has been known as the “high rise” due to its elevated approach into downtown. The challenge of creating a safe, well-engineered, attractive set of ramps and roads connecting three major highways would be tough enough in an expansive new community. Imagine working within the confines of a tightly packed downtown and an outdated interchange already in use by heavy traffic.

The original Marquette Interchange was completed in 1966 after years of extensive planning, land right proceedings, and laborious construction. Officials during the 1950s had recognized the need for a strong downtown artery due to ever-increasing automobile traffic and the growth of (particularly southern and western) suburbs. The original interchange, though, has now outgrown its design capacity, and government planners acknowledged that the now-dangerous infrastructure was inadequate and in disrepair. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation states on www.mchange.org that, by 2000, the old Marquette Interchange was seeing more than 300,000 vehicles per day – more than twice the number intended.