Legislative Republicans are balking at building a job-producing maintenance facility in Milwaukee for the successful Hiawatha Amtrak line to Chicago - - and the relatively small sum required had been included in the $810 million for the Amtrak extension that Walker forfeited a year ago - - but here's the big picture line in
Larry Sandler's excellent summation of the GOP's off-the-rails, road builder-obeisant priorities:
Spending on trains is dwarfed by road expenditures.
In the fiscal year ended June 30, the state spent less than $50 million
on passenger and freight rail programs, compared with more than
$2 billion - more than 40 times as much - on building and maintaining
state highways and local roads.
And
local rail is a target for the Right, too.
But
a highway boondoggle nearing completion in Western Waukesha County - - the Interchange to Nowhere - - gets a pass. Where's Walker's Task Force on Waste when you need it?
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| I like the bike path (r). But that sign? Better slow down to interpret that. |
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| Lovely pillars |
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| Roundabouts - - four in all - - all about. The brickwork and landscaping are lovely. |
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| Where's the holiday shopping traffic last Saturday afternoon? Oh, I forgot. The mall never got built. |
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| Houses on Pabst Farms' former farmland |
I for one am glad walker turned down federal money to build a train that was going to run from madison to Milwaukee with an initial top speed of 79mph that they then hoped would later achieve a top speed of over 100mph. Trains that have longer travel times than cars (due to the fact it had two stops between the major cities) aren't exactly forward thinking.
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