A think tank is questioning the Department of Transportation’s decision to discontinue plans for a high-speed rail stop in Oconomowoc, and has filed an open records request.
The DOT decided to remove Oconomowoc from a list of prospective stations for the rail Aug. 17, according to DOT officials.
Oconomowoc may get some answers on the decision pending the result of an open records request submitted to the state DOT by the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a Wisconsin-based think tank.
“Officials in Oconomowoc began asking legitimate questions regarding the costs local taxpayers would incur to construct and maintain a train station and rather than answer those questions, the State scraps the planned station altogether,” Brett Healy, president of the MacIver Institute, said in a statement. “We’re now looking for answers as to how this all developed.”
The rail station would have been part of the $810 million federally funded high-speed rail project that will connect Milwaukee to Madison, eventually running from Chicago to the Twin Cities.
An open records request was also submitted to Gov. Jim Doyle’s office, but Doyle’s office said they had no records related to the request, according to the MacIver Institute statement.
Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi said the DOT elected to remove the rail stop from Oconomowoc as a result of a perceived drop in interest at an Aug. 2 City Council meeting.
“This is a change in viewpoint from when we began this process,” Busalacchi said in the letter to Oconomowoc Mayor James Daley. “Due to the lack of interest by the city, we are discontinuing further discussions on a proposed station in Oconomowoc.”
Daley had originally expressed worry over funding for the construction of the Oconomowoc station in a letter to the DOT in July, saying with the lack of documented commitment the city would “cautiously” move forward with the project to make sure Oconomowoc citizens would not bear the brunt of the costs.
“The changing nature of the project has prompted the city to be concerned about the viability of high speed rail,” Daley said in the letter.
The Oconomowoc rail stop was to be one of three in the outlying Milwaukee area, with the other two intended to be constructed in Brookfield and Watertown.
The loss of a stop in Oconomowoc has not deterred continued discussion over the placement of future high-speed rail stations.
Milwaukee County Clerk Joseph Czarnezki argued the state was better off putting a station in Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee, as opposed to Waukesha County, where expected ridership is low, according to a letter Czarnezki wrote to the DOT.
A station in Wauwatosa in the vicinity of the Milwaukee County Research Park, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center would be a better choice than a place in Waukesha County, where state and local officials…have expressed opposition to the high-speed rail, apparently because desire is lacking among Waukesha County residents to ride the train, Czarnezki said.
