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High-speed rail is coming to Wisconsin, whether Republican gubernatorial candidates Scott Walker and Mark Neumann want it or not, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today.
LaHood spoke with Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle today in Watertown, where they signed a grant agreement to implement $46.5 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Acts funds to begin the infrastructure for a high-speed rail system in the Midwest.
The grant will fund work for high-speed rail stations in Watertown and Madison and will enable Wisconsin to begin the projected 25-year journey to join the national high-speed rail infrastructure initiated under the Obama administration.
“This is a national program,” LaHood said. “This administration is committed to high-speed intercity rail. From the time President Eisenhower signed the interstate bill, there were a lot of changes in administration - politicians came and went, but the national program continued over a 50-year period and today, in America, we have the interstate system. So, we know elections will take place and we know that some people will get elected and others won’t, but this is a national program. We are committed to it and high-speed intercity rail is coming to America. High-speed rail is coming to Wisconsin.”
Walker’s vow
Walker again affirmed his vow today to stop the high-speed rail project in Wisconsin if he wins the Republican gubernatorial nomination, defeats Democrat Tom Barrett in the Nov. 2 general election and is inaugurated into office in January 2011.
“It’s reckless of Governor Doyle and Mayor Barrett to spend $810 million of taxpayer money on a boondoggle train when we can’t even afford to fix our roads and bridges. Our state is facing a $2.5 billion hole in next year’s budget and a list a mile long of transportation needs. As governor, I will stop this train dead in its tracks and advocate for this money to be used for roads and bridges instead,” Walker said.
Doyle added he could not comprehend why any future governor would want to do abandon the high-speed rail program, noting that it will create jobs and economic development. Doyle also said the state would have to pay back the federal money that has been spent if a future governor drops the high-speed rail project.
“This is not going to be able to be stopped, and if it would, to me, it’s unthinkable that a governor would come in and there will be thousands of people at work and will say, ‘OK all you guys who are working on those land bridges out there, take off your hard hats, go home, it’s not going to happen and by the way, we are going to have to repay the federal government for the money that they have given us to build what we are doing,’” Doyle said. “So, this is happening and people can like it or not.”
‘Phony issue’
Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman, a major rail proponent, doubts a Republican governor would actually kill the high-speed rail project.
“It’s all politics and hype,” Bauman said. “In my view, this is all a phony issue.”
By the time a new governor is sworn in, several construction contracts will be let for the project. Those contracts will likely include clauses with severe penalties for cancellation. “A poison pill, if you will,” Bauman said. And the contracts will be awarded to politically connected road builders and contractors, which will make it even harder to cancel them, Bauman said.
“Any contract that involves a significant investment in manpower and other resources, there has to be a strong incentive to see the contract through,” said state Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee).
Richards predicted Walker will change his position on the issue if elected governor.
“It creates a major budget problem if we just decide we’re going to stop everything and scramble to send the funds back to Washington that we have already spent,” Richards said. “Certainly with Scott Walker, we’ve seen a number of flip-flops. You saw that with the stimulus money when he said Milwaukee County wouldn’t take it and he ended up taking it to help balance the budget. I suspect the same cold hard reality slaps him in the face if he is elected governor.”
If a Republican is elected governor and decides he cannot stop the high-speed rail project, “it will all be blamed on Doyle,” Bauman said. “This high-speed rail line will become reality no matter what talk radio says, so even opponents would be well advised to make the best of this infrastructure investment.”
Watertown impact
At today’s announcement, Doyle said the residents of Watertown should be excited to have a train station that will link the city to other major areas throughout the country.
“Watertown is an incredible winner here,” Doyle said. “I mean, you think about a high-speed rail transportation system linking major cities in the Midwest and Watertown is going to be on that system. They are a tremendous winner.”
“These are exciting times, I believe, for the city of Watertown for passenger rail, freight rail and our economic development for the future,” said Watertown Mayor Ron Krueger.
“In the next 2 1/2 years, over 5,500 construction workers, engineers, machine operators and others will be working hard to make track improvements, build train stations and improve the roads around these tracks,” Doyle said. “You are going to start seeing a lot of hard hats and neon vests around here, and that is good news for everyone in this state. Wisconsin will see long-term economic benefits and thousands of new jobs that will benefit communities like Watertown and others in Wisconsin for years to come.”
“This undertaking is not only creating good jobs and reinvigorating our manufacturing base, it’s also going to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” LaHood added. “It will be an economic boom, sparking development, sustaining job creation and producing a powerful ripple effect that helps countless local businesses. If you build it, they will come. I’ve seen it all over America. If you build a bus line, a transit line, a light-rail line, a road, a rail line, high-speed rail - people will come. They become the economic corridors, the economic engines for cities all over America.”
According to the Watertown Daily Times, the city officials’ preferred site for the Watertown train station is at the former Pick ’n Save property along South Church Street. The city is slated to receive $5 million in federal funding to build the depot.
"The second wave of funding for Wisconsin's Milwaukee-Madison high speed rail line announced today by Secretary LaHood and Governor Doyle is a smart investment into the future of the state, region and nation. Critics choose to ignore the quality-of-life improvements, jobs, economic growth and energy savings the project will bring. They seem instead to want to advance the pro-oil agenda that has contributed to the current upheaval in our national security, economy and environment," said Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association
Photos from the announcement, including a rendering of the Watertown rail station can be found here.
