Oops! WisDOT tries to fool folks about those I-94 accidents
Design not an issue, but freeway construction was

Oct. 22, 2004 -- The Wisconsin Department of Transportation included misleading and incomplete information about I-94 north-south corridor safety issues when it announced the corridor would be the next major freeway reconstruction project, a review of media accounts shows.

Also on this page: Busalacchi can't verify Marquette savings. Reauthorization update.

WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi said the corridor "has pavement needs, safety issues, design deficiencies and traffic congestion concerns that require full reconstruction and redesign." He continued by saying there were 14 fatalities from 2000 through 2003 on the corridor, which runs from through Kenosha and Racine Counties to the Mitchell Interchange in Milwaukee.

In the eight cases the webteam was able to immediately track down, however, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news accounts clearly show that freeway design was not an issue in the accidents. Freeway construction was directly linked to two of the fatalities.

The accidents, as reported in the JS:

February, 2000 -- A 42-year-old McHenry, Ill. man was killed about 2 a.m. when semitrailer truck rolled on its side on a ramp from eastbound I-894 to southbound I-94 at the Mitchell Interchange.

October 2000 -- A limousine driver was killed when the car he was driving slammed into the back of a semitrailer truck on I-94. The accident happened in the southbound lanes of I-94 just before noon. The limo driver apparently did not see the truck ahead of him, which was either stopped in traffic or moving very slowly because of freeway construction work.

May 2001 -- A 27-year-old Kenosha man sped down the wrong way of I-94 and killed a Purdue University student in another vehicle. The accident occurred about a mile south of State Highway 165.

June 2001 -- A 39-year-old Illinois man who was reading a newspaper while driving a killed when he crashed his rental truck into a semitrailer truck in front of him on I-94 in Kenosha County.

July 2001 -- A 15-year-old Milwaukee girl was killed when the car in which she was a passenger struck the base of a sign and rolled over on I-94 near W. College Ave.

July 2001 -- A 58-year-old Illinois man was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle as he maneuvered through freeway construction.

March 2002 -- A Germantown truck driver who was driving a milk tanker when he began experiencing sideswiped a semitrailer truck Tuesday afternoon in the northbound lanes of I-94, just north of 7 Mile Road. The milk tanker tipped on its side after the crash and the driver was killed

Oct. 2003 -- A 22-year-old Racine woman was killed Thursday evening when her car was hit by a semitrailer truck changing lanes on I-94 at W. Drexel Ave. in Oak Creek, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department.

Busalacchi says he can't prove contract savings
Marquette Interchange design contract now at 57 amendments, $20.5 million

Oct. 11, 2004 -- The State Department of Transportation cannot verify that its multiple-amendment contracting method for Marquette interchange design work is saving any money, according to DOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi.

The Marquette design contract, which has been changed 57 times, has risen in cost from $9,999,999 in late 2001 to $20,500,365. Originally there were 13 subcontractors; now there are 33.

"Because we do not have a viable alternative for comparison, it is not possible to perform a cost analysis to demonstrate that the contracting methodology used for the Marquette Interchange design work was the most cost-effective option," Busalacchi wrote in a letter to Citizens Allied for Sane Highways.

CASH, a group formed to oppose freeway widening in Milwaukee, wrote to Busalacchi in August, asking him to substantiate his claims that the unusual Marquette contracting method saved money.

CASH also requested any professional or best practices literature that recommended piecemeal contracting of highway design work as a cost- effective way to conduct business. Busalacchi did not provide any such information.

Frequent contract amendments are not unusual in Wisconsin highway projects, Busalacchi said, citing as examples the Lake Parkway project, which cost an $40 million a mile, and the USH 12 project, which came in more than 100% over budget and was cited in a Legislative Audit Bureau report last year because of its extreme cost overruns.

The design contract for the $130 million had an initial contract value of $1,539,315. It was amended 29 times, and the final contract value was $6,336,963, he wrote.

The US Highway 12 design contract had 26 amendments, and the cost rose from an initial $1,440,382 to f $2,671,849," he said.

The Audit Bureau noted that overall costs for that project rose from a projected $64.1 million to an actual $129.8 million.

Busalacchi said he was confident that issuing dozens of contract amendments on the Marquette saved the state money.

The amendments cover everything from web site design to property appraisal services, from load test drilling to stronger public relations "branding" efforts, DOT records show.

The prime contractor on the project is Milwaukee Transportation Partners, a joint venture between two politically-connected firms, HNTB and CH2M Hill. Those two firms also are the largest subcontractors on the project. HNTB thus far received $6.4 million in contracts, while CH2M Hill got $5.3 million in contracts.

Busalacchi said in his letter that the number of contract amendments for the Marquette design cannot be compared to those issued for other projects because the Marquette is so much larger than anything the state has done previously, he said.

Reauthorization Update: Congress Passes Transportation Extension
Bill

(From the Transportation Equity Network)

Oct. 11, 2004 -- The House and Senate last week passed an eight-month extension to the federal transportation law, which would have expired at the end of September. This gives Congress until the end of May 2005 to come to agreement on a final bill.

Some Republican House and Senate leaders have vowed to work to get a
final six-year reauthorization bill done before the end of this year, but that option appears highly unlikely. Senator Inhofe (R-OK) appears unable to overcome the opposition of Senator McCain (R-AZ) to a $299 billion compromise funding level. Senator Shelby (R-AL) has also expressed concerns that the compromise package would short-change public transportation investment. Senate Democrats remain unified in their opposition to the $299 billion proposal.