Milwaukee residents, who will bear most of the economic and environmental burden of expanding North-South I-94, would be least likely to be able to afford the tolls. More here.
Doyle looks at Lexus lanes
Reply
Tag Archives: North-South I-94
Our gov: missing the point of stimulus
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.
Resolution would support I-94 civil rights complaint
Ald. Robert Bauman introduces a measure asserting that “the City of Milwaukee and its residents and taxpayers would not benefit from – and would in fact be harmed by – WisDOT’s plans to add lanes to Interstate 94 south of the Mitchell Interchange.” More here.
WisDOT seeks to discourage lawyers in condemnation cases
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is seeking to change the rules and reduce the fees lawyers can earn representing property owners appealing low-bid WisDOT offers to buy their homes or businesses to make way for highways and other transportation projects.
WisDOT is getting ready to launch two major Milwaukee projects — rebuilding the Zoo Interchange and expanding North-South I-94 – that will require major property acquisitions.
The department is proposing that attorney’s fees in litigated compensation cases be limited a maximum of 1/3 of the increased purchase price awarded that amount is at least $700 and 15% higher than WisDOT’s offer. When that 1/3 increase is less than $5,000, attorney’s fees would be limited to a maximum of $5,000.
The agency makes clear that it would like to keep lawyers out of the cases.
“Litigating land purchases consumes more time and resources within the Department compared to negotiating directly with landowners,” the department said in its 2009-11 budget request. “It could adversely affect the timeline of highway construction projects. Securing land can be a first step in a project and any delays can impact final completion and overall project cost.”
The department said in its budget request that property acquisition and litigation costs increased From $5 million in 2004 to $11 million in 2007, but did not say how much property was acquired in each of those years, and how much of the spending increase went to property acquisition and how much went to litigation costs.
“The average litigation attorney fee paid for five property acquisitions between September, 2002 and June, 2006 was $65,700 compared to only $39,700 for the compensation increase paid to the owner,” the department said.
WisDOT does not say why it picked those five particular litigated cases or why the department lowballed its offers by more than $40,000 each or why it did not settle with the property owners before attorney’s fees reached the levels they did.
“The intent of these modifications is to help government agencies acquire property efficiently and reduce taxpayer costs while encouraging property owners to bring to the table their legitimate concerns,” WisDOT said. “They will encourage presenting differences of opinion and other pertinent information during the negotiation stage in order to reach an agreement before going to litigation. For the Department, minimizing litigation efforts will help highway improvement projects stay on schedule and reduce costs.”
Property owners’ rights will not be affected, WisDOT said.
“Because attorney fees are a separate reimbursable cost, establishing limits on these fees will not affect the amount an owner receives for real estate acquired by the Department,” the agency said.
How green is Obama? Bad Doyle request will tell
Gov. Jim Doyle wants President-Elect Barack Obama to send $97 million Wisconsin’s way to speed up expansion of North-South I-94.
Obama has promised to push green jobs with any stimulus package Congress approves — Doyle’s request for highway money is not — absolutely not — a green jobs promoter. The freeway expansion project will destroy wetlands and increase flooding. It will increase air pollution. It will increase the risk of asthma and other diseases, especially for kids. It will cost $1.9 billion (although it is very strange that the price of the proposed Milwaukee-Madison rail line has increased 25% to 50% over two years and the price of the I-94 project has not budged) and not do much at all to improve the employment situation in the city. In the long run, in fact, it will further divide jobs from workers, and leave many workers with no way to get to their jobs. And it will not reduce congestion.
So how green is Obama? If he approves this boondoggle, not very green at all.