Someone told citizen activist Gretchen Schuldt that something is happening at the zoo. And she almost can't believe it's true.
Yet the Story Hill neighborhood resident and long-time member of the Citizens Allied for Sane Highways said she had to believe it when she heard Gov. Jim Doyle himself talk about pushing a proposed rebuild of the Zoo Interchange -- an idea also promoted in recent years by Waukesha County legislators.
Doyle said the move would "boost the economy of the entire region" last week at a news conference at the Watertown Plank Road park-and-ride lot. It was greeted favorably by GOP legislators from west of Milwaukee County as well as the business leaders who have located or plan to locate at the Milwaukee County Research Park and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. Doyle said construction would start by 2012, four years earlier than the project was originally slated to begin.
"This connection plays a key role in moving commuters, retail customers, health care patients, all types of freight and many other types of traffic," state Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi said in a press release. "We've done a good job of maintaining the interchange, but now is the time to take the next steps to determine how the interchange can best be rebuilt to serve the community and economy well into the future."
Schuldt figures once the Zoo Interchange is reworked, it won't be long until the freeway from there to the Marquette Interchange will be widened, a project she and her neighbors fear will cause great damage to their neighborhood just north of Miller Park.
She criticizes local governments for allowing the land around the interchange to become so populated with businesses, while also saying the businesses have some responsibility for the congestion. "If these businesses want the freeway engineered early, they ought to be willing to dig into their pockets for it," she said.
Chris Klein, executive assistant for the state Department of Transportation, said today that private businesses have made contributions to state highway projects in the past but it is rarely done or encouraged.
"There is nothing in state statutes that would disallow it," he said. "But from our perspective, there are about 330,000 vehicles that travel through that interchange every day and they are not all going to those nearby businesses. That interchange moves commuters, retail business traffic, and all sorts of freight. So it is perfectly acceptable for the state to pay for the work and most agree the state should pay for it."
The project was not supposed to be started until after the estimated $1 billion rebuild of the stretch of Interstate 94 from the state line to the Mitchell Interchange was completed. So the Zoo project looked to be put off at least until about 2015, with the corridor widening following even after that.
Schuldt hopes the project won't mean widening the east-west corridor, as was also recommended a few years ago by an advisory committee comprised of leaders from through the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin. "I think they just might do the Zoo and leave the corridor pretty much where it is," she said. Schuldt bases that on the fact that the new plan has been somewhat down-sized from the original rebuild configuration.
She also maintains that the project could draw opposition for its larger-than-expected cost and from legislators from outside the region who might see that as one southeastern Wisconsin project too many for them to support.
The project was originally estimated to cost about $1.1 billion. But Schuldt figures those costs to be more like $2.6 billion once the work begins.
Doyle announced that he would seek about $28 million in the 2007-08 biennial budget to begin preliminary engineering for the work, at the intersections of I-94, I-894, and Highway 45. Final design and real estate acquisitions would happen in 2009-2011 with construction slated for 2012.
But Doyle has transferred funds from the transportation budget to help pay for educational costs, and many legislators believe the fund's resources are trailing far behind what will be needed to keep up with the current schedule of statewide highway projects.
Yet the Story Hill neighborhood resident and long-time member of the Citizens Allied for Sane Highways said she had to believe it when she heard Gov. Jim Doyle himself talk about pushing a proposed rebuild of the Zoo Interchange -- an idea also promoted in recent years by Waukesha County legislators.
Doyle said the move would "boost the economy of the entire region" last week at a news conference at the Watertown Plank Road park-and-ride lot. It was greeted favorably by GOP legislators from west of Milwaukee County as well as the business leaders who have located or plan to locate at the Milwaukee County Research Park and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. Doyle said construction would start by 2012, four years earlier than the project was originally slated to begin.
"This connection plays a key role in moving commuters, retail customers, health care patients, all types of freight and many other types of traffic," state Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi said in a press release. "We've done a good job of maintaining the interchange, but now is the time to take the next steps to determine how the interchange can best be rebuilt to serve the community and economy well into the future."
Schuldt figures once the Zoo Interchange is reworked, it won't be long until the freeway from there to the Marquette Interchange will be widened, a project she and her neighbors fear will cause great damage to their neighborhood just north of Miller Park.
She criticizes local governments for allowing the land around the interchange to become so populated with businesses, while also saying the businesses have some responsibility for the congestion. "If these businesses want the freeway engineered early, they ought to be willing to dig into their pockets for it," she said.
Chris Klein, executive assistant for the state Department of Transportation, said today that private businesses have made contributions to state highway projects in the past but it is rarely done or encouraged.
"There is nothing in state statutes that would disallow it," he said. "But from our perspective, there are about 330,000 vehicles that travel through that interchange every day and they are not all going to those nearby businesses. That interchange moves commuters, retail business traffic, and all sorts of freight. So it is perfectly acceptable for the state to pay for the work and most agree the state should pay for it."
The project was not supposed to be started until after the estimated $1 billion rebuild of the stretch of Interstate 94 from the state line to the Mitchell Interchange was completed. So the Zoo project looked to be put off at least until about 2015, with the corridor widening following even after that.
Schuldt hopes the project won't mean widening the east-west corridor, as was also recommended a few years ago by an advisory committee comprised of leaders from through the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin. "I think they just might do the Zoo and leave the corridor pretty much where it is," she said. Schuldt bases that on the fact that the new plan has been somewhat down-sized from the original rebuild configuration.
She also maintains that the project could draw opposition for its larger-than-expected cost and from legislators from outside the region who might see that as one southeastern Wisconsin project too many for them to support.
The project was originally estimated to cost about $1.1 billion. But Schuldt figures those costs to be more like $2.6 billion once the work begins.
Doyle announced that he would seek about $28 million in the 2007-08 biennial budget to begin preliminary engineering for the work, at the intersections of I-94, I-894, and Highway 45. Final design and real estate acquisitions would happen in 2009-2011 with construction slated for 2012.
But Doyle has transferred funds from the transportation budget to help pay for educational costs, and many legislators believe the fund's resources are trailing far behind what will be needed to keep up with the current schedule of statewide highway projects.
