The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) recently unveiled its proposal to expand all freeways in Milwaukee County to eight lanes (four lanes in each direction). There has been a lot of objection from residents of Milwaukee County and particularly in the city of Milwaukee. Not surpisingly, residents of nearby counties are all for this radical plan as it will cut their commute time by five minutes (SEWRPC estimate). It comes at the expense of Milwaukee County residents who will have to give up more land, and tear down more homes and businesses, thus reducing the population and property tax base. By the way, the state of Wisconsin has no idea how they're going to pay for this project.

Meanwhile, work continues on the Park East freeway demolition in downtown Milwaukee. The goal of this project is to redevelop land currently occupied by a freeway stub that was part of a never completed freeway loop. Not surprisingly, the most opposition to this came from suburban commuters.

The optimist in me says these developments indicate there has been a change in the tide since the 1960s and that we're a little more sensible these days about where we put a road and how these "improvements" affect the neighborhoods they're moving into. Time will tell. It may not hurt to contact your County Supervisor if you're a resident of Milwaukee County though.