Incoming Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is an ass. Infrastructure improvements help all of us, we need a national transportation policy that doesn’t consist simply of making more interstates. The proposed high speed rail shouldn’t be cast aside for partisan reasons – Republicans ride the rails too.
Preliminary work was halted Friday on Wisconsin’s plans for high-speed passenger train service between Milwaukee and Madison, officials said.
While the announcement by outgoing Gov. James Doyle, a Democrat, suspending design and engineering work did not kill the $810 million federally funded project, the proposed extension to Madison is in jeopardy.
The proposed route would connect with Amtrak’s existing Hiawatha service between Chicago and Milwaukee, and it would increase top train speeds to 110 mph from 79 mph. In addition, Wisconsin has been partnering with Minnesota to extend the high-speed corridor to Minneapolis.
Doyle’s decision follows Tuesday’s election of Republican Scott Walker to become Wisconsin’s next governor. Walker campaigned against building a high-speed rail network, saying his priority would be to repair roads and bridges. He called the passenger rail project a waste of taxpayer money.
Wisconsin Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi, chief architect of the state’s high-speed rail plans, said the project is on hold while he and other officials study “the real-world consequences” of the incoming administration’s agenda.
(click to continue reading Wisconsin high-speed train work halted – chicagotribune.com.)
Also in Ohio, the idiots are now in charge:
Meanwhile, Ohio Gov.-elect John Kasich reiterated his opposition to spending money on high-speed train service between Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and other cities in the state.
There’s a Sierra Club petition you can sign, if you are into such things:
Wisconsin recently received grant funds to build a high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison. This project is part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, a plan that calls for a 3,000-mile passenger rail network serving nine states with frequent service and top speeds of 110 MPH. Please sign this statement of support for High-Speed Intercity Rail for Wisconsin.
You sound like a liberial asshole that thinks people need to do everything the government tells to do including think. Are you even from wisconsin I am and I also live in the area where this waste of money is to be built. The government maybe funding to build but almost 8 mil. A year on Wis. Tax payers for up keep on a train that most won’t be able to aford $60-$70 a ticket to just go from Milwaukee to Madison airport. I can drive my gas gussling suburban cheaper and probaly faster. What do you do when you get to madison airport and then need transportation around find more public transportation at more cost. Or just expect government to pitch in for those who can’t. Aford to ride at an even higher cost to wisconsin tax payers. This project does not help the state as a whole that should be enough to scrap it. For the jobs that is said to be created from this project will 100% of them be filled by wisconsin workers , contractors or construction company’s. Another way we lose. Please stop talking out of your ass.
First of all, nobody is going to take you seriously if your calling the oppositing names in the first sentence. Secondly, the inflated number Doyle’s camp has released regarding the number of people who would use this thing in a week is just over 300,000 (already inflated). The people who use hwy 94 in that same period of time….over 500,000. There’s no gain. The reason Democrats got voted out is because they were so quick to pull the trigger on issues without thinking of something…oh, what is it called? Oh yes, long-term consequences. This thing will never “pay for itself”. Wisconsin voters wanted Walker in office because they didn’t want this garbage in our state.