Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Norquist Is Right on I-94/8-Lanes

OK, that's ONE TIME that I agreed with Norquist.

"WisDOT's proposal to widen I-94 from six lanes to eight lanes from Mitchell Interchange to the Illinois border should be rejected.

"Instead, the State of Wisconsin should resurface the existing facility, thus extending its use for many additional years and saving a billion or more of taxpayers dollars.

..."As for the widening, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) states "existing travel times within the corridor are not currently encumbered by congestion - reductions in travel time will be minimal.'"

Norquist also addresses what the State DOT calls "functional deficiencies" in various on-off ramps.

As I understand it, this proposal is a long-term one---that is, it might not be implemented for at least 10 years, or perhaps 20.

Anyone who has traveled I-94 to Chicago knows that there is ZERO 'congestion' on that road until one gets about 10 miles into Illinois. In fact, typical cruising speeds on the Wisconsin segment are 75MPH.

Of course, there MAY be some "congestion" in the next 10 or 20 years--but there's no sign of it yet. And frankly, the RoadBuilders will be around in 10 or 20 years, allowing an expansion at that time, IF it is necessary.

So far, it is not.

HT: Jo Egelhoff

4 comments:

David said...

Question. Why in the heck are they not widening I94 between downtown and HWY 18 to eight lanes?

Dad29 said...

Answer: the City of Milwaukee will not cede the land between 35th St and 60th.

David said...

Legally, can't the state (or feds for that matter) tell the city to take a hike? Not that Slimy Jimbo would want anything with improving the infrastructure of Milwaukee or Waukesha County.

Dad29 said...

Actually, the resistance from the City has to do with Barrett's desire to keep City residents in their cage.

Allowing better ingress/egress to Downtown will enable people to reside outside the City of Milwaukee...

It's not really a Doyle thing.