HARTFORD, Conn. -- The future of Interstate 84 in Hartford was the topic of discussion on Wednesday.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Heather Hegedus reported that for decades, many have called it a huge mistake for the highway to run through downtown Hartford.

The former mayor of Milwaukee was in Hartford to discuss knocking down the highway -- a project he did in his city.

Those for removing Interstate 84 from Hartford claim it would free up space for business and help revitalize the downtown.

"I-84 carries a lot of through traffic, truck traffic which shouldn't have ever been routed through the downtown -- it was a really dumb thing to do," said former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist.

Norquist said that knocking down a highway worked for Milwaukee.

"Traffic flow improved, it saved a lot of money because it would have cost a lot more to rebuild the freeway," he said.

The idea to knock down Interstate 84 instead of repairing the 40-year-old highway came from a group of citizens that calls itself The Hub of Hartford.

"When we heard the DOT was going to put $100 million into patching it up for another 20 years, we got together and said, 'Let's see if we can't make them do the long-term re-design," said Toni Gold of Hub of Hartford.

One of the options the group has come up with is brining Interstate 84 to ground level. Another idea is to have the highway go around the city instead of through it. The third idea is to put the highway underground.

Hegedus reported that Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez is taking the idea seriously and has appointed a liaison to work with The Hub of Hartford.