President Donald Trump’s budget law cancels $36M street reconstruction project in Milwaukee

Last year, former President Joe Biden visited Milwaukee to announce the city had received a $36 million grant for a street reconstruction project. 

That project was to be funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s neighborhood access and equity grant program. It would have transformed a 2.6-mile stretch of Milwaukee’s 6th Street corridor.

But now the project will not move forward following the passage of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which rescinded funds for the grant program, said Jordan Primakow, the director of intergovernmental relations for Milwaukee.

Primakow said city officials were made aware that the funds in the grant program could be rescinded after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill. 

“It was extraordinary … frustration,” Primakow said after Trump signed the bill into law. 

The project called for widening sidewalks, installing more bike and bus lanes, and planting more trees along the corridor linking residential neighborhoods with downtown. Construction was set to start in 2028.

“Now, President Trump and his administration said, ‘no, that’s not going to happen,’ and it’s a sad thing for the city,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said Tuesday. 

Johnson said the “significant investment” would have made it safer for residents who live along the corridor and created hundreds of jobs for the city.

“So for that to be taken away by an administration that claims that they’re interested in having these sort of investments in jobs, it was … terrible for Milwaukee,” Johnson said.

When asked about next steps, Johnson said the project is “not going to happen, unfortunately.”

Milwaukee’s 6th Street corridor is near Interstate 94/43, which was constructed in the 1960s. A fact sheet from the Biden White House said construction of the interstate resulted in the demolition of about 17,000 homes and 1,000 businesses. The reconstruction project aimed to “make the roadway and surrounding communities safer, greener, and more welcoming.” 

Primakow said Milwaukee has already received about $2.1 million for planning and engineering. But city leaders say moving forward with the project without federal funds is unlikely.

“Considering the difficult budgets that we have on the horizon and the significant challenges that we have in our roadways throughout the city of Milwaukee, I think it would be extraordinarily difficult for us to commit $34 million to this one corridor,” Primakow said. 

The city will likely have “persistence of significant budget gaps in the coming years,” according to a 2024 budget summary.

In addition to the grant Milwaukee received last year, Madison also received $1 million for planning for the Perry Street Overpass project through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program. That project aims to reconnect Perry Street over the Beltline Highway, according to a statement from the office of U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

“That is still moving forward and does not appear to be impacted by the recent federal legislation,” Dylan Brogan, a spokesperson for the city of Madison, wrote in an email. “The City of Madison has received no notification about that planning grant being rescinded.”