State Trunk Highway 794 (Highway 794, STH-794, WIS 794), officially the John R. Plewa Memorial Lake Parkway or the Lake Parkway, is a state highway in Milwaukee County,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, United States, that goes north–south from downtown

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

to its southern suburbs. WIS 794 is the highest numbered Wisconsin state highway in the state trunk highway system. WIS 794 is one of only two numbered state trunk highways, along with WIS 39, that share a number designation with an

Interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

or US highway within the state's borders.

Wisconsin Department of Transportation The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Wisconsin responsible for planning, building and maintaining the state's highways. It is also responsible for planning transportation in the state ...

(WisDOT) policy otherwise prohibits dual designations within the state trunk highway system, a situation it had been able to maintain until the US 51 freeway was designated as a northward extension of

Interstate 39 Interstate 39 (I-39) is a highway in the Midwestern United States. I-39 runs from Normal, Illinois, at I-55 to State Trunk Highway 29 (WIS 29) in the town of Rib Mountain, Wisconsin, which is approximately south of Wausau. I- ...

Route description

Starting at College Avenue (CTH-ZZ), WIS 794 begins to travel north via Pennsylvania Avenue. This stretch of road is just east of the

General Mitchell International Airport Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is a civil–military airport south of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States., effective May 21, 2020. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Air ...

. At Edgerton Avenue, WIS 794 briefly turns west but then curves north. At that point, it travels on a limited-access road (Lake Parkway) next to a railroad. It then meets Layton Avenue at a partial diamond interchange and then Howard Avenue (unsigned WIS 794 Spur) at a diamond interchange. After crossing under a railroad underpass, it meets Oklahoma Avenue. This time, a one-quadrant interchange appears on that point. This involves a signalized intersection in the middle of a quasi-freeway. Continuing onwards, it then crosses over WIS 32 without an interchange and then meets Carferry Drive. At this point, WIS 794 becomes I-794. This is one of three pairs of routes that have the same numbering but different designation (the others being I-41/US 41 and I-39/WIS 39).

History

The Lake Parkway was originally planned to be a lakeside freeway, named the Lake Freeway, extending from just north of downtown Milwaukee all the way south to the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

state line connecting with the Amstutz Expressway and possibly following all the way to Lake Shore Drive. Due to protests over construction, the Lake Freeway was never completed, and the Amstutz Expressway in Illinois was similarly never completed. Before the Lake Freeway project was cancelled, a portion of the route was built immediately south of downtown Milwaukee. The

Hoan Bridge The Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge is a tied-arch bridge that connects Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the Lake Freeway across the Milwaukee River inlet. Originally called the Harbor Bridge, it was renamed after Daniel Hoan, one ...

, a bridge spanning the mouth of the

Milwaukee River The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 19, 2011 Once a locus of industry, the river is now the c ...

connecting downtown and Bay View, was constructed. However, the bridge stood unused for three years subsequent to its completion, unconnected to any other road, and locally it was known as the "Bridge to Nowhere". The unfinished bridge was used as the site of a car chase scene in the movie ''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respecti ...

''. In 1977, the freeway was connected to the East–West Freeway and Carferry Drive, causing traffic from the Lake Freeway to exit and crowd onto surface streets. In the 1990s, construction on what would become the Lake Parkway began along the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

/former

Chicago and North Western Transportation Company The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befo ...

right-of-way. The whole project took approximately eight years. The Lake Parkway opened in October 1999. Beginning of Lake Parkway

The freeway section of WIS 794—the John R. Plewa Memorial Lake Parkway, as it is formally known—was finally completed to the corner of East Edgerton Avenue and South Pennsylvania Avenue, after six years of terminating at the Layton Avenue off-ramp. Officially, the parkway has four exits. The Oklahoma Avenue exit, however, requires a

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic light ...

for southbound vehicles to enter. The stoplight is a major reason why the parkway is not considered an Interstate Highway for its entire length. A newly constructed section of Howard Avenue between WIS 794 and

WIS 32 State Trunk Highway 32 (often called Highway 32, STH-32 or WIS 32) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin that runs north–south in eastern Wisconsin. It runs from the Illinois border (at Illinois Route 137) north to the Michigan bor ...

is part of the state trunk highway system and officially labeled a spur of WIS 794. This spur is the only unsigned state highway in the greater Milwaukee area. WIS 794 continues down South Pennsylvania Avenue, running just east of

Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is a civil–military airport south of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States., effective May 21, 2020. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Ai ...

south to its terminus at College Avenue.

Major intersections

Spur route

Spur WIS 794 is a spur route connecting

to WIS 794. It is one of only three spur routes in Wisconsin, and it is unsigned.

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Wisconsin Highway 794

794 __NOTOC__ Year 794 ( DCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 794 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...