SEWRPC
committee to consider removing Milwaukee
freeway widening from plan
Feb.
9, 2006 -- A Southeastern Wisconsin Regional
Planning Commission next month will decide whether to
remove plans to remove the widening of 19 miles of Milwaukee
freeway from the regional transportation plan.
The
19 miles include I-94 from the Zoo to the Marquette Interchange
and I-43 from the Mitchell Interchange to Silver Spring
Drive.
The
Regional Transportation Planning Advisory Committee will
meet at 9:30 a.m. March 1 to consider the matter. The
meeting site has not been determined, but SEWRPC Deputy
Director Ken Yunker said it would be in the Milwaukee
area.
Yunker
said the issue remained controversial and the committee
would have to deal with it sooner or later.
To
read the draft document to be considered, click here.
Milwaukee
Director of Public Works Jeff Mantes said the city wanted
the number of lanes called for along the affected stretches
reduced from eight to six.
Changing
the number of lanes in the plan would not prevent freeway
expansion, but would delay the decision until preliminary
engineering for reconstruction of specific stretches.
Mantes said the city stands to lose a minimum of $15 million
in tax base if the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
takes the 72 Milwaukee homes SEWRPC estimates will need
to be destroyed for the I-94 North-South project.
Milwaukee Public Works Director Jeff Mantes talks
about the impact of the I-94 North-South reconstruction
project
More
from Mantes...and WisDOT's Donna Brown
"Raising
that to the level it has been raised to has created a
huge issue down there with respect to real estate values."
Some
realtors are using the freeway project to encourage people
to sell their homes for below-market value, citing the
threat of the freeway project to the homes' very existence,
he said.
Milwaukee
County Public Works chief George Torres said County Executive
Scott Walker still supported the full freeway expansion.
He said Walker's position is the official county position
since the county executive vetoed a resolution adopted
by the County Board that opposed the 19 miles of expansion.
An effort to override the veto failed by one vote.
Miilwaukee
County Public Works chief George Torres pushes freeway
expansion on County Executive Scott Walker's behalf
Beneficiaries
of WisDOT contract give dollars to Doyle while pact is
negotiated
Feb.
6, 2006 -- Representatives of firms benefiting
from the $8 million I-94 North-South design services contract
plunked down a total of $8,500 in campaign donations for
Gov. Doyle on the day or the day after a Doyle fund-raiser
was hosted by a top Wisconsin Department of Transportation
official, records show.
Milwaukee
Transportation Partners, a joint venture between HNTB
and CH2M Hill, already had been selected for the I-94
work, but the entity's contract with WisDOT was being
negotiated at the time of the Sept. 8 fund-raiser, hosted
by WisDOT Secretary Ruben Anthony.
Officials
of CH2M Hill, HNTB and various subcontractors on the project
put cash into the governor's campaign coffers. All of
the donations reported on Doyle's campaign fund statement
are dated Sept. 9, so it is difficult to tell if the contributions
were made at the fund-raiser or the day after.
The
State Ethics Board has said Anthony did nothing illegal
in inviting the firms to the fund-raiser.
HNTB was the largest contract beneficiary donor to Doyle
within that Sept.8-9 timeframe, campaign records show.
HNTB honchos Scott Butzen, of Pewaukee; Charles Dulic,
of East Lansing, Mich.; Kenneth Graham, of Delafield;
and Robert Fogle, of Overland Park, Kansas, shelled out
a total of $3,000.
HNTB's
Wisconsin vice president Brian Swenson told the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel that only HNTB Chief Operating Officer
Scott Butzen attended the fund-raiser, but apparently
skipped the part about other HNTBers who sent checks.
CH2M
Hill officials Van Walling, of Germantown; Brad Heimlich,
of Waukesha; and Patrick Klampe, of Menomonee Falls, gave
a total of $1,500.
Subcontractors
on the project also enriched Doyle's campaign fund. They
include Martha Love, of Milwaukee, who is listed as retired
on Doyle's campaign finance report, but who is identified
on I-94 contract documents as president of Association
B, LLC, an MTP subcontractor. Love donated $1,500 Sept.
9.
Mathew
Tharaniyil, of New Berlin, president of Bloom Consultants,
LLC another subcontractor, donated $1,000. Officials of
Daar Engineering gave a total of $1,000, and and Edwards
& Associates employee gave $500.
Playing
and paying Roadbuilding
firms that getteth the most from WisDOT giveth the most
to Doyle
Nov.
28, 2005 -- The four roadbuilding consulting
firms paid the most by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
from 2002 through 2004 also gave the most to Gov. Doyle's
campaign fund during the same time, according to a review
of records for 26 firms.
The
four are are CH2M Hill, HNTB, Earth Tech, and Ayres Associates
Inc.
The
"get and give" pattern of WisDOT payments and
political donations has been a recurring one over the
years.
CH2M
Hill had the biggest WisDOT payday from 2002 through 2004
-- it hauled in $48.3 million, or an average of $16.1
million a year, records show.
HNTB
Corp. was next at the trough, and was paid $31.2 million
by WisDOT, an average of $10.4 million per year. Earth
Tech took in $28.2 million, or $9.4 million per year;
and Ayres Associates Inc. was paid $24.4 million, or $8.1
million annually.
HNTB
won the "doling to Doyle" contest by miles,
giving him $55,465 over the three years, according to
the campaign donation database maintained by the Wisconsin
Democracy Campaign.
CH2M
Hill gave $6,729 to Doyle, Earth Tech gave $7,600, and
Ayres gave $6,125, according to WDC.
Those
are the highest amounts among all the firms reviewed.
The
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that representatives
from CH2M Hill, HNTB, and Ayres attended a Doyle fundraiser
held by WisDOT Deputy Secretary Ruben Anthony Jr. in September.
The amounts given at that fund raiser are not yet publicly
available and are not included here.
HNTB
and CH2M Hill together form Milwaukee Transportation Partners,
the joint venture that holds design contracts for the
Marquette Interchange reconstruction project.
HNTB
has been paid $18.2 million and CH2M Hill has been paid
$17.2 million for work under those contracts, according
to the WisDOT. The firms, individually, are subcontractors
to MTP.
The
preliminary design contract and related work orders, as
of June, had been amended 63 times, more than doubling
their value from $9,999,999.49 to $20,666,752.93.
MTP
also will be the lead consultants for engineering and
environmental studies for the North-South I-94 reconstruction
project.
On
June 29, one day before the MTP selection was announced
for the I-94 project, CH2M Hill official Patrick Klampe
dropped $1,000 on the Doyle campaign, while co-worker
Denise O'Brien-Snell kicked in another $500, according
to WDC.
storyhill.net
compared the records of 26 of WisDOT's highest-paid consultants
for whom the information was available. The "highest
paid" status was determined by the value of open
contracts and work orders assigned to each firm late last
year.
