State Approves $25 Million Study Into I-94 Westbound "Modernization"; Commuters Question If Problem Needs This Much Analysis

WAUKESHA — The state Transportation Projects Commission voted Wednesday to fund a comprehensive feasibility study of I-94 westbound between the Milwaukee County line and Highway 41, a 12-mile stretch infamous among Waukesha commuters for traffic delays exceeding 30 minutes during peak hours.

The $25 million study, expected to take three years, will examine design alternatives, environmental impact, utility coordination, and funding mechanisms for what officials are calling a "potential modernization" of the corridor. No design work, land acquisition, or construction is included in the current scope. The study's completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2028.

A Wisconsin Department of Transportation spokesperson defended the timeline and cost, noting that federal grant requirements mandate detailed analysis before any design or construction can begin. "You can't just go build a highway because everybody agrees it's bad," the spokesperson said. "There's a process. The process has phases. This is phase one of the phases."

The Five-Minute Answer

Local commuter Brad Holtzman, 44, who drives the corridor twice daily between his home in the town of Brookfield and a warehouse job near Highway 41, said he could have saved the state considerable time and money.

"I would have told them the answer in five minutes for free," Holtzman told the Freeman, referring to what he described as an obvious congestion problem visible to anyone who has sat in it. "It's the merge by the county line. It's always the merge by the county line. You don't need three years and $25 million to find the merge by the county line."

"I would have told them the answer in five minutes for free."

— Brad Holtzman, commuter

Holtzman said his commute has taken between 38 and 51 minutes over the past month depending on the day, a range he tracks in a note on his phone he called "not a spreadsheet, more of a diary." He estimated he has personally spent more hours stopped on the corridor since March than the commission has spent discussing it, though he acknowledged he had no way to verify this.

What The Study Will Study

According to the scope of work released Wednesday, the study will evaluate lane configuration options, interchange redesigns, noise wall placement, stormwater management, and "long-term corridor resilience," a phrase the spokesperson described as "not just about the road, but about the road's relationship to the future."

The study will not include a public comment period until its second year, though the department said residents are welcome to submit feedback at any time "for the record," with no commitment that the record will be reviewed before 2028.

Councilman Gary Puchalski, who does not have jurisdiction over state highway funding but attended Wednesday's commission meeting anyway, called the study "a necessary and responsible step" and said he looked forward to seeing its findings alongside everyone else who already knows what they'll say. "The data will confirm what Brad already knows," Puchalski said. "That's not a criticism. That's how data works."

Three Years, Twelve Miles

At current traffic volumes, the 12-mile study corridor takes drivers between 14 minutes on a clear day and upward of 45 minutes during peak congestion, a range the department's own study will spend three years, or roughly 1,095 days, examining.

Retired DPW supervisor Bob Krueger, 72, who reviews the county's road projects in a personal capacity, said he had not yet reviewed the I-94 study scope but planned to request the underlying documents. "I've seen studies before," Krueger said. "The good ones tell you what you already knew, slower. The bad ones tell you something new, and then nobody does anything about it anyway. I'd guess this one lands in the first category, but I'll reserve judgment until I've seen the cone taper, so to speak."

The department said it would provide quarterly progress updates beginning in January. Asked what the first update would likely contain, the spokesperson said it was too early to say, but that the study remained "on track."