The story and video on WISN.com contain interviews with state Sen. Jeff Plale and state Rep. Mark Honadel — and potentially impacted Oak Creek homeowners — about the project.
Check it out here.
While it’s a nice in-depth story on the project, I guess I’d like to see official confirmation from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, however, before I fully accept that the interchange is a reality.
South Milwaukee Blog 
This is great news for south side business development that there will be an interchange going in on Drexel Ave. I live off of Puetz and 13th St. in Oak Creek so will it increase traffic in our residential side of town? Yes. Do the positives outweight the negatives? Absolutley.
I agree that it could bring business and residents to South Milwaukee, however, what businesses or residents are going to want to locate to South Milwaukee or the other soutside cities of Cudahy and St. Francis when there’s nothing there for them to locate to/for besides the parks system? Oak Creek / Franklin has the largest positive impact because they have the largest draw in terms of newer businesses (e.g. Woodman’s, TJ Maxx, etc.) that continue developing coupled with the solid school system, fair housing pricing and taxes (Cudahy’s property taxes seem typically higher than Oak Creek’s because there aren’t as many businesses to share the tax burden though others are moving to Caledonia just a hair out of Milwaukee County and getting 2x’s the property for the same property tax payment).
In my mind, you’ve got the proverbial chicken and the egg. It doesn’t make fiscal sense for many businesses to locate to St. Francis, Cudahy or South Milwaukee because the demographics don’t support it. And, residents don’t want to relocate here because there’s nothing to keep them here. You see a bit of a surge now with first time home buyers taking advantage of the tax credit, but those 20/30 somethings typically stay in the area for 3, maybe 5 years before they move on to other areas that offer them more.
Before we discuss bringing people to Cudahy, South Milwaukee and St. Francis, let’s figure out what will attract them here. And, then keep them here. The South Milwaukee Farmer’s Market is a great step in the right direction. Now, let’s look at a broader picture and partner with all 3 communities together to attract larger retail businesses.