The nonprofit organization Reconnect Rondo has developed a three-to-five-block land bridge concept over I-94 within a broader African American Cultural Enterprise District plan in the Rondo neighborhood. A reconnected Rondo and the surrounding cultural enterprise district is a critically important vision. A boulevard conversion option can be designed to be compatible with a land bridge.
Should the Rondo community desire to reconnect the neighborhood at-grade, then the boulevard could run below grade through this portion of the corridor. This strategy would solve multiple serious problems created by the highway, from neighborhood disconnection to air pollution and community health disparities. It would also reconnect and reinvest in other neighborhoods currently divided by the highway, including Cedar-Riverside, Seward and Midway.
Compared to alternatives that maintain I-94, the below-grade boulevard would also significantly increase the amount of affordable, buildable land available for new homes and enterprise-scale businesses by reducing the width of the roadway under the bridge. A land bridge over a rebuilt highway would only allow for parkland and some 1-2 story buildings, while a boulevard allows for taller buildings in larger quantity. This would create even more opportunities to return land to Rondo residents, and support new homes, businesses and parks within an African American Cultural Enterprise District.
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