More Hoan Bridge Rhetoric … and Still No Solutions

State Sen. Jeff Plale and State Rep. Christine Sinicki are calling for a sizable chunk of the federal stimulus money set aside for high-speed rail to Madison to be redirected to fix the crumbling Hoan Bridge.

Sounds great, right? After all, with chunks of concrete falling from the bridge, something has to be done.  So why not spend some of the $810 million windfall from the Obama administration on the project?

There’s just one problem: It’s not going to happen.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story:

“The $810 million for the rail line was awarded in January as part of a national initiative included in last year’s federal economic stimulus package. Redirecting the money to fix is bridge is not feasible, said Chris Klein, executive assistant to Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi.

“This is not how it works,” Klein said. “The passenger rail money is one of the cornerstones of the Obama stimulus effort.”

If the money were diverted from the rail line to the Hoan Bridge, the state would then have to come up with additional funds to pay for the rail line – leaving the state with no net gain, Klein said.

“I don’t think they thought this through,” he said.

I disagree. I think the politicians proposing this know full well there is no chance that the federal money will be spent on this project. But, alas, this is an election year, and saving the Hoan Bridge is an easy issue to champion. Too easy, in fact.

If you’re successful in diverting the money, you’re a hero. If not, you can say, “at least I tried.” It’s a win-win scenario for the politician … and a loser for everyone else, wasted energy spent on a non-solution to a growing problem.

Missing in all of this, of course, are facts, a detailed study about what the long-term future of the bridge should be.

If you read this blog, you know that I support a study of all options for the bridge — a study that can inject some actual facts into a debate that has been noticeably lacking them. Maybe the best option is redecking, keeping the bridge as is. In fact, that’s probably the case. But who’s to say for certain? While a drawbridge certainly doesn’t seem like the answer — Plale, keeping with the trend toward super-heated rhetoric on this issue, called it a “really, really stupid idea” during an interview on WTMJ radio this week — who’s to say there aren’t other options to consider here?

Keep in mind that simple redecking is a 30- to 50-year fix. So we should be certain that we’re keeping the long-term future of the span — and the land underneath it — in mind when making any decisions. That’s where a study comes in.

Of course, such a study seems more and more of an impossibility as time moves on and the bridge’s condition worsens. This is where I blame the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. As the DOT has dragged its feet on this issue — and the political pressure to “Save the Hoan” has increased — the bridge continues to fall apart and the need for redecking grows.

Now, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is propsing using separate DOT money — a portion of a $105 million already mostly earmarked for other projects — to fund Hoan Bridge repairs. This sounds reasonable, but I wish we could avoid spending any significant dollars here until we can look at the bridge’s long-term future.

In other words, let’s not just throw money at the problem.  

But, alas, it’s election season. That means we can expect more of the same with the Hoan Bridge: the playing of politics with an issue that deserves reasonable, informed discussion … and a long-term solution based on facts, not rhetoric and political games.