Michael Horne Gives Ald. Bauman His Due

Horne is right: Ald. Robert Bauman has crafted a strong Milwaukee Common Council majority against the state's plan to commit $1.9 billion to rebuild and widen I-94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois without its adding a penny to help the pending Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail project get started.

I weighed in on this a couple of weeks ago, here.

Look to Aldermanic leaders like Bauman, Michael D'Amato, Michael Murphy and the all-important Common Council President Willie Hines to continue to connect transportation planning with water planning, too, since both heavily influence in the region where private development, public resources and residents are located.

Also note that a leading highway advocate predicts stalemate in the legislature if there is a rail vs. road-building battle.

That's meant to scare people into thinking that their highway projects are jeopardized by the push for a modicum of equity for rail transportation in Wisconsin.

We're not there yet, but if gas prices stay high, more travelers will demand alternatives, and commuter rail would provide a significant option in a growing market - - SE Wisconsin to the Illinois line.

You'd need a substantial makeover from the top down into lower-management at WisDOT to engineer the shift in thinking that would begin to provide transit-starved planning and implementation with real dollars to achieve real results.

That's not why Frank Busalacchi was put in charge at WisDOT.