County Supervisors Endorsed Alternative

Proposal and savings
Deny funding for the proposed U.S. Highway 12 expansion project. Estimated project costs are $130 million — $90 million federally funded.

Background
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) has proposed a four-lane, 42-mile expansion of Highway 12 from Madison to Wisconsin Dells at the intersection of I-90/94. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and WisDOT have divided the project into three sections for Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) purposes. With a traffic volume of 11,000 to 20,000 vehicles a day, moving more vehicles and large trucks faster is foremost in the arguments of four-lane supporters.

Status
Because WisDOT failed to estimate secondary sprawl impacts, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required WisDOT to complete a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) which was deemed flawed. The EPA then hired Argonne National Laboratories which found the DEIS "unacceptable … inappropriate, methodologically flawed, and inconsistently applied…" However, FHWA signed the Final EIS days before the Argonne review was released.

Problems with the project

Taxpayer Concerns
Safety concerns can be addressed at a fraction of the cost by upgrading existing lanes. A "Super Two" alternative would have 10-foot paved shoulders, center guard rails, right- and turn-out lanes, and provide accident reduction features equivalent to a four-lane highway.

Local Community Concerns
Thirteen Dane County Board of Supervisors support the "Super Two" alternative. Similarly, the local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted to call WisDOT’s recent DEIS inadequate, thus ensuring that the project remains deleted from the local Transportation Improvement Program. Many local farmers, residents and business owners are opposed to the project. Dane County held a hearing to assess the feasibility of the Highway 12 expansion and 96 percent of comments opposed the project.

Environmental Concerns
Widening Highway 12 would spread sprawl into Dane County farmland and the Baraboo Hills National Natural Landmark, which the National Park Service has designated "threatened" because of the proposed four-lane highway. The project would generate more car and truck traffic, forcing a new bridge and bypass (Section II) around Sauk City that would cut through bald eagle wintering habitat.

Contacts
Safe Highway 12 Now Coalition, c/o Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, (608) 251-7020; Brett Hulsey, Dane County Board Supervisor, (608) 238-6070.