For Transportation

This dissertation is a mixed-methodology design that demonstrates that infrastructure projects can aid the disadvantaged in cities when a comprehensive set of strategies are deployed. It also highlights opposing views about the role of Civil Rights in the highway construction industry, the impact of related landmark legislation on states' disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) programs and provides an overview of Civil Rights Programs in Wisconsin with a focus on the approaches used to provide increased opportunities to the disadvantaged. The project is located in Downtown Milwaukee and was constructed for less than $810 million. Although the primary intent of the project was to reconstruct a modern freeway, the Milwaukee Community and the Doyle Administration demanded that inner city minority residents and businesses be granted increased access to opportunities on the project. To the surprise of many, as the Marquette Interchange reconstruction project concluded in August 2008, more money was spent on this project with minority and women owned companies than on any other highway construction project in the history of the State of Wisconsin. This study will examine and document the strategies that were used to attain this level of success.