Category Archives: Gov. Doyle

WisDOT slaps Obama

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It’s hard to figure: a governor who endorsed Barack Obama for president when it was a semi-risky thing to do is letting his transportation department show total disrespect for the man now that he holds the highest office in the land.

President Obama had made a few priorities absolutely clear: this country must reduce both greenhouse gases and dependency on foreign oil.

Gov. Jim Doyle’s WisDOT, in planning for a new Zoo Interchange, is taking a real slap at the president by totally ignoring those priorities. There will be no planning for any transit to be incorporated into the new design, nor will there be a freeway / transit alternatives analysis done, despite the city’s request.

It’s a road-only study — more greenhouse gases, more dependency on foreign oil. Guess the governor doesn’t like the president all that much.

And why is this plan roads only? Because of a timeline Gov. Jim Doyle set when he was running for re-election and worried that the Republicans would criticize him for not rebuilding the Zoo Interchange before embarking on the North-South I-94 project. There is no valid engineering, environmental or geopolitical argument against including transit in the Zoo Interchange project. The opposite is true. The region, state and country would be better off if transportation planning included transit. That a project this big doesn’t isn’t just a slap at the president and his priorities — it’s a slap at all of us.

Our gov: missing the point of stimulus

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Gov. Doyle announced that federal stimulus money will help speed the reconstruction of North-South I-94 from Illinois to Milwaukee.

Wow! And the net stimulus effect of that will be…zero.

The I-94 project already was going to be done. All Doyle is doing is replacing some state dollars with federal dollars. Big whoop.

Using stimulus money just to avoid using state money is not the point and will not move the economy forward. The governor should be spending money on needed projects and jobs that would not be otherwise done. Light rail construction, for example, or helping households and businesses throughout the state install energy-conserving windows and doors.

Doyle announced the clunkily named Office of Recovery and Reinvestment (to be run by white guys from Madison — what a refreshing idea) to help figure out how to spend the money. Let’s hope they come up with something that will actually make a difference.

Oil assessment? WisDOT wants it

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The $393 million oil company assessment Gov. Doyle says he will propose for his 2009-11 budget should go to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, according to WisDOT’s budget request.

The money would help pay for major spending in the next two years including, according to the agency:

  •  $63 million in state funds to continue work on Interstate 94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois state line to meet the scheduled completion date of 2016 (a total of $571 million is proposed for the project is proposed in the budget request);
  • $181 million to begin work on the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee County so that construction can begin by 2012 and meet a completion date of 2016;
  • $17.0 million to continue implementation of REAL ID;
  • $100 million in General Obligation bonding, with annual debt service payments funded from the Transportation Fund, for transit in SE Wisconsin;
  • expanding Hiawatha passenger train service; and
  • inflationary cost increases for all highway-related programs and local aid programs.

“In addition to these initiatives, rising fuel and utility costs have made it more expensive to maintain current levels of customer service department-wide. For example, higher fuel costs have contributed to a need for additional funding for highway maintenance and for the Division of State Patrol,” WisDOT said. “As demands for transportation funding have increased, revenue growth has not kept pace. ”

Sales of taxable motor fuel declined this year, according to WisDOT.

Source: Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Doyle said last week that the state is facing a $5 billion deficit. The governor has not said whether he would propose that the oil company assessment go to WisDOT.

The proposed oil assessment would include a provision prohibiting oil companies from passing the cost along to customers, WisDOT said.