Select Page

I-39/90/94 on track for next major step

Feb 26, 2025

Traffic backup on I-39/90/94

What happened?
Governor Evers recently delivered his 2025-27 budget proposal, including the enumeration of the I-39/90/94 corridor from the Beltline in Madison through Wisconsin Dells. According to the Budget in Brief, the Major Highway Development Program includes funding to “start work on the I-39-90-94 expansion.”

What does this mean?
Inclusion in the governor’s proposal is significant progress for the project. However, legislative leaders have already said the legislature will craft its own budget. Project advocates are working to ensure this vital project makes it into the final 2025-27 budget.

Why is the project important?
This corridor connects major population centers – Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis – to Wisconsin’s popular outdoor recreation and tourist destinations.

Moreover, it is a primary long-haul truck route.

The State of Wisconsin has already modernized and expanded I-39/90 from the Wisconsin-Illinois border to Madison. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is now looking to improve I-39/90/94 from Madison to Wisconsin Dells as the next leg in this corridor, which extends from the state line.

Vital to the region and our state’s economic health, this route is reaching the end of its useful life.

The numbers tell the story:

  • $120 billion of freight travels through the corridor annually.
  • 25% of the daily traffic is commercial trucks.
  • $4.9 billion in economic impact was generated in 2023 by tourism along the corridor, almost 20% of the state’s total.
  • 60% of the 113 structures are close to the end of life as of 2024.
  • 72% of days, a crash occurs. A crash can double or triple times, adding hours of delay.
  • Nearly 50 of the next 50 years will see pavement projects somewhere in the corridor without the I-39/90/94 reconstruction project.

What are people saying?
Business and industry support for the project is strong from Madison to the Dells and from agriculture to tourism. The Central Wisconsin Interstate Alliance, which comprises more than 30 businesses, local governments, and other organizations, applauds the governor’s inclusion of the I-39/90/94 project in his budget proposal. See CWIA’s statement on the budget here.

For more information about the project or CWIA, visit CentralWIA.org.

What’s next?
CWIA will work with WisDOT and other stakeholders to keep a modernization project for this crucial route moving forward.