SUMMARY: This notice announces actions taken by the FHWA that are final
within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a
proposed highway project, Interstate I-94, I-894, and U.S. Highway 45
(Zoo Interchange) in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Those actions grant
approvals for the project. The project will replace the existing
roadway and bridges and reconfigure the study-area freeway system to
address safety issues and design deficiencies and provide additional
capacity. The project termini are 124th Street on the west, 70th Street
on the east, Burleigh Street on the north and Lincoln Avenue on the
south. Primary design features of the project include: All exits on the
right, through traffic stays left; full 8- to 12-foot shoulders on all
ramps and freeways; four lanes on each approach leg; three lanes on US
45 northbound and southbound through the core of the interchange; two
lanes on I-94 eastbound and westbound through the core of the
interchange (with a wider median that could accommodate a third lane in
the future); several ramps with two lanes instead of one; smoother
curves on all freeway-to-freeway interchange ramps (minimum 45 mph
design speed); 60 mph design speed on I-94 and US 45; access to and
from US 45/I-894 provided to US 18 (Bluemound Road), but no direct
access between I-94 and Bluemound Road.

DATES: By this notice, the FHWA is advising the public of final agency
actions subject to 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). A claim seeking judicial review
of the Federal agency actions on the highway project will be barred
unless the claim is filed within 180 days of this Federal Register
notice. If the Federal law that authorizes judicial review of a claim
provides a time period of less than 180 days for filing such claim,
then that shorter time period still applies.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bethaney Bacher-Gresock, FHWA, 525
Junction Road Suite 8000, Madison, Wisconsin 53717; telephone: (608)
662-2119, email: Bethaney.Bacher-Gresock@dot.gov. The FHWA Wisconsin
Division’s normal office hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. central time. For
the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT): William Mohr, PE,
Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Southeast Region, 141 NW.
Barstow Street, Waukesha, Wisconsin 53187; telephone: (262) 548-6421 (262) 548-6421
email: dotdtsdsezoo@dot.wi.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that FHWA has taken
final agency actions subject to 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1) by issuing
approvals for the following highway project: Interstate I-94, I-894,
and U.S. Highway 45 (Zoo Interchange) in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin,
Project I.D. 1060-33-01. The project involves reconstructing and
providing additional capacity on approximately 3.5 miles of Interstate
94 (I-94) and approximately 5.5 miles of United States Highway 45 (US
45) which includes a portion of I-894, and local streets affected by
the freeway. The actions taken by FHWA, and laws under which such
actions were taken, are described in the Final Environmental Impact
Statement (FEIS) for the project, approved on October 3, 2011 (FHWA-
WISC-EIS-09-01-F), in the Record of Decision (ROD) issued on February
10, 2012, and in other documents in the FHWA or WisDOT project records.
The FEIS, ROD, and other project records are available by contacting
FHWA or WisDOT at the addresses provided above.

Will Busalacchi suddenly turn in his roadbuilder underpants to become an advocate for transit funding? Not if he is consistent with his past. Here’s just a small JS snippet from his days as head of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation:

And Busalacchi, in a response to (Mayor Tom) Barrett, said the city and county and not his department are responsible for the mass transit improvements needed to meet the planning goals for 2035.

“What is lacking is local and regional consensus and commitment to actually develop and implement these services, all of which are local responsibilities,” Busalacchi wrote.

Yup. Here’s a quick guide to Busalacchi’s state funding priorities: Unnecessarily expanded freeways, good; maintaining state roads and highways, not so very good at all; supporting transit, really bad.

His proposals to charge ahead with freeway creation and expansion all over the state never did make much economic sense — hey, gov, the economy will not be helped if trucks can get between cities on new freeways, but break their axles on ruined local roads — but they seem less and less reasonable when the federal highway trust fund is considered. Congress just can’t get a deal done on funding, which means that state taxpayers may end up funding more of the road binge than Walker and his gang are letting on.

From the Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON—A six-year $556 billion highway and transit construction program proposed by President Barack Obama is the latest casualty of Washington’s spending stalemate.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), who is leading talks on the issue, said Wednesday she is now considering a two-year measure that would freeze federal spending on road, bridge and transit projects at existing levels.

The White House had called for a six-year infrastructure bill in his fiscal 2012 budget in part as a measure to create jobs and boost the economy. But lawmakers haven’t agreed on how to pay for the bill, amid a broader debate over how to slash federal spending.

Ms. Boxer, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said “funding challenges” could require a two-year, $109 billion bill setting funding at existing levels plus inflation. The bulk, if not all, of the funding for such a bill would come from the federal gasoline tax. Lawmakers would still need to plug a $12 billion shortfall under that bill, because gas-tax revenue is falling.

The U.S. average retail price of regular gasoline increased more than a nickel from last week to $3.84 per gallon. This is $0.98 per gallon higher than last year at this time and is the highest price in April since EIA began tracking weekly data in 1990. The East Coast region tallied the biggest gain in price, more than six cents higher than the previous week, and was followed by the Gulf Coast where prices increased over five cents. The West Coast notched a gain of about five cents to send the average price to $4.08 per gallon; it remains the only major region in the country where gasoline averages more than $4 per gallon. The Midwest registered a four-cent increase on the week. The gasoline price in the Rocky Mountains was also about four cents higher but the region continues to have the lowest gasoline average in the country with the price at $3.61 per gallon.

No, really. Again, don’t worry about it. We don’t need alternative transportation that will reduce reliance on gasoline. Highways are all we need. Don’t think about it. Don’t think at all.

If pieces of the bridge fall and hurt someone, who will be liable? Summerfest? The state? Wait — wouldn’t the state be immune from such lawsuits? The patron, under the theory that he or she should have known about the unsafe bridge? Did the Wisconsin Department of Transportation give Summerfest a head’s up that it was going to deliver a major blow to the festival’s attractiveness? Maybe extreme risk enthusiasts will be lured by the possibility that they might be crushed while walking to the Taj Mahal concert! If nothing falls from the Hoan and no one is hurt during Summerfest, can the festival get some compensation for the damage WisDOT has done to it? Was Summerfest mentioned so folks get scared and don’t stop to ask questions about the project? Aren’t patrons of ethnic festivals at risk, too?

And what about that horizontal cracking on the new Marquette Interchange retaining wall? Hmm?

Other questions — did Graef-USA have to bid for this particular “Summerfest patrons might diiiieeee!” work, or was it a no-bid job, like its work for then-County Executive Scott Walker on the O’Donnell Park fiasco?

And most importantly, why, if our existing infrastructure is in need of multi-, multi- multi- multi-millioin dollar repair work, is Gov. Walker pushing ahead with unaffordable, unneeded, multi-billion dollar highway expansion projects? Doesn’t this guy know anything about fiscal responsibility?

Don’t think about the latest from the Energy Information Administration:

Regular-grade gasoline retail prices, which averaged $2.76 per gallon last summer, are projected to average $3.86 per gallon during the 2011 driving season. The monthly average gasoline price is expected to peak at about $3.91 per gallon by mid-summer. Diesel fuel prices, which averaged $2.98 per gallon last summer, are projected to average $4.09 per gallon this summer. Weekly and daily national average prices can differ significantly from monthly and seasonal averages, and there are also significant differences across regions, with monthly average prices in some areas exceeding the national average price by 25 cents per gallon or more.

The wide expanse of shoulders would damage property values and create negative impacts for residents living near the freeway, he said.

The shoulders would be wide enough to accommodate additional traffic lanes in the future, should WisDOT decide to add a fourth lane eastbound and westbound along that stretch of freeway. Standard shoulders are eight feet to 12 feet wide, according to WisDOT documents.

“It was a sin of omission,” Murphy said in an interview Tuesday.  He said WisDOT representatives were asked about potential expansion scenarios several times when they met with him, City Engineer Jeff Polenske and Public Works Commissioner Jeff Mantes.

“They weren’t forthcoming with that information,” Murphy said, adding that he was “very disappointed in the professionalism” of the WisDOT employees.

Murphy said city officials would seek to extend the April 4 deadline for comments on revised draft environmental impact statement for the proposed project. He said the Common Council needed the time to take an official on the WisDOT proposal.

“This has been on a very fast pace,” he said. The council meets April 12.

Polenske said he did not learn of the plan to build the super-sized shoulders until public meetings on the project last week.

Said Murphy: “If you don’t ask the question the right way, they won’t provide the information. You understand why people get cynical about them.”

The Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement does not discuss the possibility of 18-foot shoulders.

One page of the document promises “full 8- to 12-foot shoulders on all ramps and freeways” in the core of the interchange. The possibility of significantly wider shoulders is only hinted at.

“WisDOT and FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) have decided not to implement either narrower lanes or allow shoulder use,” the document states. “However, the Modernization Alternatives would not preclude using shoulders as travel lanes at some point in the future.”

Question: What are the environmental, social and safety impacts of expanding Bluemound Rd., Watertown Plank and Highway 100?  What accommodations will be made for pedestrians and bicyclists? Will accidents and fatalities along this stretch count as urban freeway accidents and fatalities since the roads are now so intimately tied to the freeway project? Will we end up with eight-lane freewaysin all directions and bigger arterials?

Question: Where will WisDOT get the money to pay for this concrete fantasy?  How will it pay to maintain it all?

How does this benefit people who don’t have cars?

Congressional Republicans looking to hold down federal spending are considering a transportation budget blueprint that would, at a minimum, be less than half the size of the plan advanced by the White House.

In fact, the base-line figure of under $240 billion would fall below what Congress approved in similar legislation five years ago for road, bridge and transit upgrades, according to sources with knowledge of the six-year plan.

The bill for budgeting transportation priorities in the states is just beginning to take shape within the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

And if the feds don’t come through, just how will Gov. Walker get the money for his wildly over-ambitious homage to his road builder masters?