Federal authorities have said the state's share of high-speed rail construction is zero dollars, and the annual contribution for operations would be $750,000.
Consider that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has already spent at least $8.8 million to acquire land and plan for an I-94 interchange in Western Waukesha County to serve a shopping mall at Pabst Farms that has twice been delayed and may never be built.
By WisDOT standards - - it is spending $1.9 billion on the I-94 north/south project from Milwaukee to the Illinois state line, while the Zoo Interchange is projected at more than $2 billion - - $8.8 million is chicken feed, and $750,000 is what, a kernel of corn?
Yet $8.8 million would cover the state's train operating share for nearly 12 years.
Think about it.
It's simply not true that the sum is unaffordable.
Speaking of transportation, I was absolutely amazed not to see an ad from the Barrett campaign focusing on what Walker has done to Milwaukee County transit. Folks elsewhere in the state may not care much about Milwaukee (although I am sure many do care), but I feel strongly that they value their own transit systems. In other words, I think this was an issue to which they would have related.
ReplyDeleteNo, you are correct.
ReplyDeleteMost people elsewhere in the state do not care about Milwaukee, other than it is a black hole for their out-state tax dollars.
And they can relate to the issue of transit systems, which are an ineffiecent and ineffective waste of money all over the state.