For the folks who head out west on I-94 during rush hour each morning, that drive had to be a daily frustration. Those of us driving east could only look across the concrete barrier with sympathy.

While our lanes would move pretty well – certainly nothing to complain about in a big city – our westbound comrades were sitting in what looked more like Chicago traffic than Milwaukee's.

After all the time and money and inconvenience expended on the new Marquette Interchange a few years ago, this daily payment of time and frustration was a compelling argument that something had been severely flubbed or overlooked in planning that project.

Cars would fill every lane from at least as far west as the stadium and all the way back Downtown, backing up ramps off the high rise bridge, 794 and 43 from the north.

But a mere few weeks ago, as part of a larger ongoing project stretching west to 70th Street, the DOT undertook a project to widen I-94 westbound from around 25th Street to about 44th Street. Yesterday, that project was completed, a week ahead of schedule.

That seems pretty amazing considering to the untrained eye it seemed near impossible to add a lane in that stretch of road that was pretty narrow and hemmed in by bridges like the ones carrying traffic above on 27th and 35th Streets.

I was tempted to give the route a try on the way home yesterday, but decided against that. While I often take 94 eastbound in the morning, I generally avoid it like the plague going west in the afternoon.

But this morning, while driving Downtown, I couldn't help but notice the lack of backups. Sure, there were vehicles, but they were all moving at what appeared to be the speed limit. In fact, for the first time in recent memory – barring accidents or other blockages – westbound traffic appeared to be moving more efficiently than eastbound traffic.

Could such a quick fix – and one finished early, to boot – have corrected this problem?