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Rail News Home High-Speed Rail

10/15/2010



Rail News: High-Speed Rail

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate calls for public hearing on Milwaukee-Madison HSR line


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Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s Republican gubernatorial candidate in the Nov. 2 election, recently sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requesting a public hearing on the environmental impact of the proposed Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line.

The last public hearing was held in 2001. At the time, the high-speed proposal would have affected 13.5 acres of wetlands. Now, nearly 24 acres of wetlands would be impacted by the high-speed line, according to Walker.

“[Governor] Jim Doyle and [Democratic gubernatorial candidate] Tom Barrett are rushing to build this train as quickly as they possibly can because they know the people of Wisconsin don’t want it, and I will stop it,” Walker said in a prepared statement. “It is important that the public be given a right to voice their concerns over not only the outrageous cost of this project, but also on the less-discussed environmental impact, especially on wetlands.”

Wisconsin is set to receive $810 million in high-speed stimulus funds to implement high-speed passenger-rail service between Milwaukee and Madison. Walker has threatened to kill the project if he’s elected governor, saying he’ll return the money to the federal government.