The control cities at the interchange are Downtown Milwaukee to the east, Chicago to the south, Madison to the west and Fond du Lac to the north.

This resulted in the Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope and the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin filing a lawsuit against the department of transportation in 2012.

By the summer of 1963, work crews were in a rush to have the interchange finished by the end of that year's construction season, resulting in its completion that fall.

It also suggested reducing lane endings at interchanges and reconfiguring ramps to allow for travel at a higher speed.

[6] WisDOT originally planned to begin working on the Zoo Interchange after a rebuild of I-94 from Milwaukee to the state line had been completed.

[10] Governor Doyle backed off of his original plan, acknowledging that the state would not have enough money to do the Zoo Interchange until the I-94 reconstruction was completed.

Due to public opposition to most of the options proposed, the department had taken components from several designs to develop the reduced impacts alternative, which was chosen.

[16] However, a lawsuit was filed in August 2012 attempting to rein in the capacity expansion component of the plan on the grounds that it would have a discriminatory effect.

[17] A ruling in May 2013 required WisDOT to conduct a study on the effects of the interchange project on suburban sprawl and transit-dependent populations.

[19] The American Transmission Company began relocating overhead power lines in June 2013 in order to accommodate the new interchange design.

[27] In June 2018, the ramp from I-94 west to I-894 south opened, marking the completion of the last major structure in the core of the interchange.

The eight-lane variant would theoretically solve all of the problems, and was favored by the department, but it faced opposition by the public because of high costs and environmental impacts.

[15] Based on input from the public, WisDOT took components from several of the eliminated designs to develop a new option, called the reduced impacts alternative.

This design was still intended to solve all of the problems, but would have a lower cost, less environmental impact, and require significantly less property and utility relocations.

The use of this method instead of pilings allowed for easier traffic rerouting, reduced installation time, less utility conflicts, less noise and vibrations, and cost savings.

This design allowed longer bridges to be built while using fewer lifts, as well as maintaining uniformity with the Marquette and Mitchell interchanges.

A bill of materials was released in advance, giving contractors two to three months to obtain the steel before the work was scheduled to begin.

[29] The department obtained laser mapping units, new desktop, laptop, and tablet computers, and GPS rovers in preparation of the project.

[33] The plaintiffs argued that the huge amounts of money being spent on expanding the freeways at the interchange would only benefit commuters from the mainly White suburbs.

The first would look at the environmental effects of expanding the interchange's capacity, especially if future traffic volumes did not meet the state's estimate.

The second would look at the social and economical effects on minorities of expanding the interchange's capacity while public transit remained unsupported.

Once the studies were completed, the state would be free to choose whatever course of action it wanted, including continuing with the plan to expand the interchange and allow public transit to decline.

This argument was rejected by the court; they believed that the project could have effects on the entire region, not just the areas around the interchange, and the state needed to take these into consideration as well.

The choice to expand the capacity of the interchange greatly increased the cost, with a simple rebuild estimated at only $900 million.

[35] Many residents opposed the plans made by WisDOT for arterial street widenings prior to the interchange reconstruction.

[17] The Republican suburbs have gained power in regional politics and pushed their transportation ideas, leading to proposals for bus lanes and several types of rail systems being vetoed.

[35] Following the bridge closure at the Zoo Interchange, county executive Scott Walker criticized Governor Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett for supporting an $810 million (equivalent to $1.11 billion in 2023[9]) rail line when the highway infrastructure was so deteriorated.

[13] After being elected governor, Walker allocated huge amounts of money to freeway megaprojects, exemplified by the $1.7 billion Zoo Interchange reconstruction.

Residents of the city have complained that this is excessive, and the costs of the projects are not justified by the claimed few minutes of time saved by car commuters, especially while local road aid and education have received funding cuts.

[35] The city's opposition to the highway only idea of the suburbs culminated with the 2012 lawsuit, forcing the state to give more money to public transit.