Casino Jim Announces Nothing but Makes It Sound Good

Continuing his attempt to purchase votes (it works on him, why not the voters?) Diamond Jim Doyle has offered to rebuild the I-894/Hy 45/I-94 interchange beginning in 2012.

Doyle and his transportation chief say the move is driven not by politics but by the economic importance of the state's busiest freeway interchange, the crossroads of I-94, I-894 and U.S. Highway 45.

...Doyle noted that "the Zoo Interchange is a very important part of the overall transportation picture for the whole state" as a traffic link among the Milwaukee, Madison and Fox Valley regions.

Not to worry about funding this:

Doyle denied that his decision was political. He said he vetoed the earlier move because Republicans tried to undo his shift of transportation dollars to school spending.

The money's already been stolen. Now it's just a matter of using Visa to make up the loss, right, Jimbo?

Here's the real fun:

Busalacchi and Doyle said the preliminary engineering work also will be the basis for deciding whether the freeways that feed into the Zoo Interchange should be expanded from six lanes to eight, as the planning commission has recommended. That has been one of the most controversial aspects of freeway reconstruction, particularly within Milwaukee, because of the number of homes, businesses and graves that could be taken.

In other words, the "announcement" is meaningless. Milk-Carton Barrett will fight to the death (assuming he's in town) to keep I-94 at 6 lanes. The infighting alone will delay the project at least a couple of years.

Of course, Milk-Carton thinks that Diamond Jim will keep it to 6 lanes.