page_title: Interstate 794
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 794 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Henry Maier Park with 12 scenes where most Milwaukee festivals are held, including Summerfest Română: Parcul Henry Maier cu 12 scene unde se țin majoritatea festivalurilor din Milwaukee, inclusiv Summerfest.
context_page_description: Interstate 794 is a 3.50-mile Interstate Highway spur route in Milwaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is one of two auxiliary Interstates in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and serves the lakefront, the Port of Milwaukee and connects downtown with the southeastern suburbs of St. Francis, Cudahy and South Milwaukee.
context_section_description: The original plans for the Lake Freeway called for it to begin north of downtown Milwaukee at a connection to the proposed Park East Freeway, then to travel south from the downtown Milwaukee area to Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.  However, the Hoan Bridge was the only segment of the freeway to be built before strong opposition to the freeway resulted in its cancellation.  This led to the Hoan Bridge being called the "Bridge to Nowhere" as it sat unused, with both of its ends unconnected to any other road, for three years. The unfinished bridge was long held as being used as the site of the car chase scene in the movie The Blues Brothers. In a 2016 article for the Shepherd Express, author Michael J. Prigge, pointing out that the bridge had been opened for two years when the film was shot indicated another incomplete segment of I-794 had been used for the scene.   An east–west freeway was later constructed between the Marquette Interchange and the Hoan Bridge, creating what is now known as I-794.
  As part of his campaign against freeways in Milwaukee, Mayor John O. Norquist proposed to tear down the I-794 portion of the east–west freeway in 1995 in favor of a surface boulevard.  He believed that the freeway was cutting off the Historic Third Ward from the rest of downtown Milwaukee.  His effort failed when opposition to the removal cited increased traffic volume on the road as well as the new Lake Parkway nearing completion.  After opening, the Lake Parkway helped traffic volumes on I-794 to increase to 111,000 vehicles per day by 2004.
  The Marquette Interchange construction project undertaken between 2004 and 2008 rebuilt the east-west viaduct section of I-794 between the interchange and the Milwaukee River.
  In February 2010, Milwaukee County Supervisor Patricia Jursik and South Milwaukee Mayor Tom Zepecki proposed a plan to expand I-794/Lake Parkway to Racine County. The expansion would follow an existing railroad corridor and was intended to relieve traffic along I-94.
caption: The Lake Freeway as seen from the air
exif: {"Image Make": "Motorola", "Image Model": "DROIDX", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "2.3.4", "Image DateTime": "2013:09:22 12:01:56", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2446", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[17, 1, 56]", "Image GPSInfo": "5210", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5360", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "23194", "EXIF ExposureTime": "31/62500", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:09:22 12:01:56", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:09:22 12:01:56", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "CbYCrY", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1405/128", "EXIF ApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "291/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "D55", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "497/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5134", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}