Thursday, January 31, 2019

Should WI still finance special I-94 Foxconn-airport delivery lane?

If Foxconn isn't going to build big-screen TVs at its Racine County project, does the State of Wisconsin really have to build that special driverless trucking lane to Mitchell Field? 
...the upgrade will help Foxconn Technology Group automate the shipping of goods and people for its Mount Pleasant campus, and move freight from Mitchell International Airport to operations in Racine County. 
The tech upgrades being built into the freeway were a key selling point when Wisconsin received a $160 million grant for the project from the U.S. Department of Transportation in June... 
A DOT PowerPoint by Brett Wallace, the DOT’s Foxconn project director, shows options the agency is thinking about: The right shoulder could be converted to a truck lane, or one of I-94’s four lanes in one direction would be converted to truck use.
WisDOT photo. If Foxconn doesn't build a manufacturing plant in Mount Pleasant, does the state need to pay for high-tech highway upgrades to accommodate driverless trucks?

    3 comments:

    Man MKE said...

    Maybe just let them use regular trucks with human drivers. That at least will preserve or save a few blue-collar jobs in Wisconsin.

    The Cargo Cult of The Music Man said...

    If You Build It, They Will Come - Field of Dreams

    Allen said...

    Driverless Trucks are going to happen. This is a duty free zone that will bring huge amounts of merchandise into the airport.

    Its just reality. The farmfields are not coming back and the warehouses are going up. Building a quick-track rail hub to transport the containers might be better but you need something.