WisDOT I-94 report unrealistic, flawed, groups say

May 12, 2008 -- The final environmental impact statement for the proposed $1.9 billion North-South reconstruction and expansion plan is deeply flawed because it is based on unrealistic expectations that transit improvements will occur and uses "outdated and grossly inadequate" gas price projections, according to a group of civil rights and environmental organizations.

The report's environmental justice analysis and consideration of pollution impacts also are inadequate,according to comments submitted to WisDOT by Amercian Civil Liberties Union, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin Inc., Midwest Environmental Advocates, the NAACP and the Sierra Club Great Waters Group..

The final EIS "contains serious factual and methodological errors, omits essential information and analysis, and is inadequate to support meaningful analysis and decision-making," the group said. "As a result, the agency should prepare and circulate for public comment a revised EIS. Failing to do so would be arbitrary and capricious."

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is recommending that I-94 from the Illinois-Wisconsin state line to about Howard Ave. be expanded from six lanes to eight. It is also recommending that I-894 be expanded from I-94 to 35th St.

The comments submitted by the legal and environmental groups cited specific flaws in WisDOT's report, including:

• Failure to respond to comments submitted earlier, aviolation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The law requires WisDOT to "discuss at appropriate points any responsible opposing view" and to summarize or attach the comments to the final EIS, the group said. WisDOT did not do those things.
• Failure to acknowledge and analyze environmental justice issues and failure to discuss and analyze a construction option that would not add lanes within the city of Milwaukee, as the Department of Natural Resources had requested.
• Reliance on unrealistic projections of transit improvements in modeling air quality. "The inclusion of transit projects in the air quality modeling is only legitimate if the projects are funded," the group said. There is, though, "no reliable evidence that the revenues required to construct and operate the transit projects will be made available."
• Failure to adequately assess health risks posed by mobile source air toxics to people living, working and attending school in the project area.
• Failure to analyze greenhouse gas emissions.
• Failure to propose ways to mitigate air quality impacts, flooding or stormwater impacts.

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Key city officials urge balanced transportation planning
No expansion on North-South I-94, they say

May 6, 2008 -- The $200 million the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has proposed spending to expand North-South I-94 "could be better spent implementing a balanced transit strategy that includes mass transit alternatives and increased local road aids," top city officials said Monday.

Mayor Tom Barrett, Common Council President Willie Hines and Aldermen Robert Bauman and Michael Murphy signed the letter to letter to Robert Gutierrez, WisDOT project manager. Monday was the deadline for public comments on the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed $1.9 billion freeway reconstruction and expansion project.

Most of the trips along the corridor begin and end in the region and rail service could accommodate travel demand, the four said.

"This could potentially preclude the need for freeway expansion, and ever-increasing gas prices only reinforce the need for greater mass transit alternatives like commuter rail," they said.

The state spent $19.2 billion on highways from 1992 to 2007, but spent only $2.2 billion on transit during the same time period, the letter said.

"Clearly this does not represent a balanced approach, and WisDOT must play an equivalent lead role in regional mass transit initiatives as it does with freeway projects," the four elected officials said.

The amount of state aid the city receives for roads and streets declined from $27.8 million in 1999 to $26.32 million this year, they said. When adjusted for inflation, that is a 32% cut.

The city has increased its own spending to compensate for the state reduction, they said.

"These are the critical dollars that repair our streets and fix potholes that wreak havoc on our cars, buses and trucks," they said. "If we are to consider spending hundreds of millions of dollars for new freeway construction and expansion, we must also address how to upgrade and maintain our current infrastructure that is showing wear and tear."

WisDOT itself said that freeway expansion will not improve travel times in Racine and Kenosha Counties, they said.

"Instead of spending $200 million to reduce drive time by just 10 minutes for only those travelling southbound between Howard Avenue and College Avenue 30 years from now, WisDOT would better serve the public interest by investing these resources on important mass transit alternatives and increased local road aids that, in tandem with freeway reconstruction and renovation, move the region and Wisconsin forward," they said.

The four emphasized that they do not oppose reconstructing the freeway.

"The I-94 North-South Corridor project represents a tremendous opportunity to do just that - invest in our region's critical freeways, but also move forward on key mass transit projects and provide local municipalities the support they need to maintain local roads," they said.