The Wisconsin Department of Transportation today sent an e-mail to contractors for the $810 million Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line, telling them to stop work on the project.
Fred Lueck, chief operating officer for Plain, Wis.-based Edward Kraemer & Sons, confirmed that his company had received the e-mail from the DOT telling the company to halt work on the high-speed rail project. Edward Kraemer & Sons had received a contract to build land bridges for a two-mile stretch of the high-speed rail line.
The DOT message told contractors to stop work on the project, but did not indicate that the project has been cancelled, Lueck said.
“It just puts it on hold,” he said.
The message did not inform contractors why the project is being put on hold or for how long, Lueck said.
Later today, Wisconsin Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi issued the following statement: "At the Governor’s request, I have asked contractors and consultants working on the high speed rail project to temporarily interrupt their work for a few days. In light of the election results, our agency will be taking a few days to assess the real world consequences, including the immediate impacts to people and their livelihoods, if this project were to be stopped."
The high-speed rail project has been extremely controversial, and Republican Governor-elect Scott Walker has promised to cancel the project.
Just days before Tuesday’s election, the Doyle administration and federal administrators signed an agreement to commit the state to spending all $810 million of federal stimulus money allocated for the high-speed rail project. Some thought that agreement would make it more difficult for Walker to cancel the project.
Edward Kraemer & Sons has not started work on the project yet, Lueck said. The company was going through procedures to begin the work and was in the process of purchasing materials for the project, although it had not purchased any materials yet, he said.
Lueck declined to say what the company will do if the high-speed rail project is cancelled.
Walker may have some help in Washington in his effort to stop the project, with a new GOP House majority and a new U.S. senator, Republican Ron Johnson, as well as new GOP majorities in both legislative houses in Madison.
Johnson, who beat three-term incumbent Dem U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold Tuesday, said he would “absolutely support” Walker’s attempt to stop the project and get the money redirected to other infrastructure projects.
“It’s hard to imagine it would have a high level of ridership,” said Johnson, who received 52 percent of the vote Tuesday.
"Since the story first broke, we’ve had lawyers coming out of the woodwork with suggestions on legal actions to take," Walker said Wednesday in Madison. "The good news is we have a variety of options. I think a majority, not only party-wise, but a majority of people in the Legislature … agree with me on the train and the need to make sure that we’re not stuck with that in the future,” Walker said.
Later today, WISN-Channel 12 reported that sources said the high-speed project has been “scrapped.”
Listen to Walker’s remarks:
http://wispolitics.com/1006/101103_Walker.mp3.
– BizTimes Milwaukee and WisPolitics.com
