We have been working with you on advocacy for the continued enumeration of the I-94 East-West corridor since earlier this year. Our efforts have included meetings and outreach to legislators, public advocacy, op-eds, presentations and more. Our work with a regional coalition of associations, businesses, and policy leaders, called I-94 Econ Connect (www.i94econconnect.com), has helped to build strong messaging and aligned partners around this economic and commercial real estate imperative. While it was announced on October 4, that the State of Wisconsin will no longer pursue the continuation of the project, our coalition remains motivated to encourage a change in position. See the statement below. If you have questions about this or other issues, please let us know.
Coalition of Milwaukee-Waukesha Business and Community Leaders Urge WisDOT to Reconsider Position on I-94 East-West
The I-94 East-West Econ Connect Coalition released the following statement on the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s recent letter to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) about the I-94 East-West project in Milwaukee:
“I-94 East-West Econ Connect, a coalition of associations, businesses and community leaders, is extremely disappointed in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s request to have the Federal Highway Administration rescind the Record of Decision approved for the I-94 East-West project in Milwaukee County.
“Over 20 million taxpayer dollars were spent performing an extensive, detailed, and comprehensive study of the existing freeway and interchanges. The end result of the study was the identification of an alternative that would correct extensive safety, traffic operations, and deterioration aspects of the nearly 60-year old facility.
“Beyond the $20 million spent finding a solution that was acceptable to a broad cross section of the community’s stakeholders, another $50 million would likely be required to resurface the roadway yet again (it was resurfaced in 2010-11 with the understanding it would only need to last 8 to 10 years) before any hope of fully addressing the freeway’s problems could be undertaken.
“We ask WisDOT to reconsider their request, and ask FHWA to provide a reasonable amount of time for some form of legislative action to permit a more detailed discussion on enumerating I-94 East-West and including a modest amount of continued investment into the project over the next two years.”
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