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.
“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 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.
For more about the political fallout from today’s announcement, read the full story.
– BizTimes Milwaukee
