UNDATED (WSAU) State officials now say they’ll commit $300-million by the end of the year to the planned high-speed train from Milwaukee-to-Madison. That’s much more than $50-million originally estimated. And Republicans accuse Democrats of making it harder to cancel the project – which Scott Walker and Mark Neumann have both promised to do if they’re elected in November.
The federal government has provided $810-million stimulus dollars for the rail line. And Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi told T-V interviewer Mike Gousha that $300-million will have been spent this year. But D-O-T aide Cari Anne Renlund clarified that yesterday. She said the state will have entered into contracts of that amount – but it will not necessarily have been spent.
Walker, the Republicans’ endorsed candidate for governor, says the figure is probably just 100-million – and if he’s elected, the state would only pay for work that’s actually done. Renlund says the next Legislature would have to vote to cancel the project, but Walker says he could do it himself. Neumann, Walker’s primary opponent, says the state is quote, “burning through money on a poorly thought-out project that will be a burden to taxpayers.”
Both Republicans say the money would be better spent on fixing roads-and-bridges. But Governor Jim Doyle says the federal grant can only be used on trains – and if Wisconsin doesn’t spend it, another state will. Busalacchi says the train would be a boom because it would connect Wisconsin with the Twin Cities and the rest of the Midwest. The main Democrat in the governor’s race, Tom Barrett, supports it.
