The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is proposing to close the Layton Avenue on/off ramps of Interstate 94.
The Airport Gateway Business Association (AGBA) is working with areas businesses to save the ramps and the businesses! This is a huge issue to businesses and residents on the south side of Milwaukee.
The companies of the AGBA rely heavily on I-94’s on ramps and off ramps, located west of 13th Street on Layton Avenue in Milwaukee.
Our vehicles use those ramps 1,500 to 2,000 times per day. Our customers’ and suppliers’ trucks use them 2,000 to 3,000 times per day. Without them we would be forced to go much farther out of our way, increasing our fuel costs and labor cost (around $3 million per year). It would also affect our customers, who would also see cost increases (potentially causing them to go elsewhere), and our suppliers, who would seek to recover their increased costs as well.
This $3 million increase in costs would decrease profits, which would then decrease our employees’ profit sharing.
We also know that we are not the only businesses that will be hurt by this proposed change. There are more than 450 businesses in this area which use these ramps daily and will be negatively affected. There are more restaurants (fast-food and sit-down) within a one-mile radius of the Layton Avenue ramps than from any other ramp, north or south 10 miles of I-94 and Layton Avenue.
The closing of this ramp would greatly impact the sales dollars generated by these restaurants. Additionally, area residents and employees will also be rerouted and faced with increased fuel costs and time away from family due to longer commute times. Our employees work and many of our businesses thrive here partly due to the ease of access. These businesses have invested millions of dollars counting on the continued traffic flow.
We urge the DOT to reconsider the possibility of closing the Layton Avenue ramps. This area has been abused long enough by lack of city and state backing, and this would be one more instance where we are forgotten and left to fend for ourselves.
This will greatly reduce the effectiveness of the recent Business Improvement District (BID) that AGBA worked so hard to form this year. Taking these ramps away will dramatically affect everything we have worked for as a business association during the past two years and will severely hurt the revitalization of the south side.
In his recent "State of the City" speech, Mayor Tom Barrett did not issue any further aid for this area, nor did he mention the south side. We know that it is up to us to keep this development going!
Please help by keeping the Layton Avenue ramps open! We are more than willing to speak to anyone about this in detail.
Jaime Maliszewski is the vice president of the Airport Gateway Business Association (AGBA) and is president of Reliable Plating Works and its subsidiary, Elite Finishing, of Milwaukee. He can be reached at (414) 397-2171 or by e-mail jaimem@rpwinc.net. Additional information is available at www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/d2/i94/index.htm.
