9-6-13 highway 23 expansion

The director of an organization that has filed a federal lawsuit to stop a Highway 23 expansion project in Fond du lac and Sheboygan counties says the traffic counts don’t warrant the expansion.
Steve Hiniker is the director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin.  Hiniker tells AM 1170 WFDL's Between the Lines program the DOT’s own review shows traffic counts down significantly in the last nine years.  "We did an evaluation of Sheboygan and Fond du lac counties and found out there were 50 million miles driven less in 2010 than in 2004,"  Hiniker said.  "We know that there are less miles being driven.  What does that do as far as the justification of the alternatives?  We think it raises the spector that a less costly alternative is probably justified."  Hiniker says on top of that unless there is a revenue increase there is no money in the transportation fund to pay for the project.  But Republican state representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt of Fond du Lac says delaying the project  with temporary fixes like passing lanes will only result in a more expensive project in the long run.  "It would and I don't believe that their (1000 Friends) ultimate goal is that they want the roads to be built somewhere else.  I don't think this group particularily wants roads to be built anywhere,"  Thiesfeldt said.  Thiesfeldt suggests reversing the direction of the project…starting in Fond du lac

County and moving to the east.  "If the lawsuit, which is undeniably what's holding this up, is focused on the eastern portion of the roadway, the plans are to work from east to west, why don't we flip it and work from west to east."  Thiesfeldt says that would at least get construction on the road started.  The DOT announced last month the project had been pushed back to 2018.  But after hearing concerns from area lawmakers the DOT Secretary announced this week the project start date had been restored to 2015.