The debate over I-794 is more about the destination than the journey. On its surface, it’s a traffic engineering question: Should the state Department of Transportation renovate Downtown’s east-west stretch of freeway, or tear it down and expand Clybourn Street?

But the movement to remove the freeway has never stayed inside its four lanes. For 30 years, urbanists have imagined a future Downtown revitalized by new residential and commercial buildings along a mile-long boulevard where I-794 now stands . Without the freeway, Clybourn would become that boulevard, with on- and off-ramps at Sixth Street for I-94, at Second Street for I-43 and at Lincoln Memorial Drive for the Hoan Bridge, connecting to the Lake Parkway (State Highway 794).

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