Federal officials are concerned about Baraboo Hills
[Reprinted from The Capital Times, Tuesday, July 14, 1998. -Ed.]
By Chris Murphy
The Capital Times
Concern over the fate of the Baraboo Hills has led to a delay of a controversial project to widen U.S. 12 to four lanes between Middleton and Sauk City.
The hills near Baraboo cover more than 50,000 acres and are home to a dazzling variety of plants and animals. The area is designated as a national natural landmark.
Federal environmental officials are worried that widening U.S. 12 to four lanes could spark too much development in the area and ruin the habitat.
As a result, state DOT planning supervisor Matt Hintze said there will probably be a delay of one year from the planned 2001 starting date, and it could be longer.
The DOT and its supporters argue that the highway is dangerous and that the only way to make it safe enough is to widen it to four lanes. But some vocal opponents, including some local and federal officials, say an improved two- lane highway could be just as safe.
The two sides are debating the accuracy of the DOT's environmental studies, which concluded that a four-lane road is the best solution for safety and that the project would foster only minor development.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raised some concerns about the $64 million project's potential environmental impacts, but that in itself does not stop the project from going forward, said Mike MacMullen, environmental review group manager in the EPA's Chicago office.
The agency has hired a consulting firm to critique the DOT's analysis of how much development a four-lane road would spur in the Baraboo Hills. MacMullen said the review should be done soon, but he would not speculate on what might happen if it dismisses the DOT's analysis.
A possibly greater potential for delay comes from the Council on Environmental Quality, a federal agency created to resolve disputes. MacMullen said the EPA has not taken any concerns to the council, but he added that the National Park Service has said it may do so.
Tom Gilbert of the Park Service's Madison office was not available for comment Monday, but he has said he is concerned about the potential for development near the Baraboo Hills.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk has also lobbied federal highway and environmental officials against widening U.S. 12.
Falk spokesman Topf Wells said Monday that Falk, in the last six months, has had about a dozen conversations with officials and has written four or five letters. She made the case against the project in Washington, D.C., on one occasion, Wells said, but he added that the primary reason she was in the capital was for an unrelated conference.
Falk opposes the highway expansion because there is a two-lane alternative and because the DOT's land use study was inadequate, Wells said, adding that she has offered to make $3,000 in county money available for further study. Rob Kennedy of the New Transportation Alliance, another outspoken opponent, said the DOT has not given adequate consideration to the idea of an enhanced two-lane road with safety improvements.
But Hintze said the calls for more analysis are just a tactic to delay the project, which the DOT has spent about $5.5 million to study already.
"We have thoroughly evaluated every permutation of two-lane alternatives that anybody could come up with," Hintze said.
He added that he is concerned about the precedent this project might set in terms of the amount of study that is required for ultimate approval.
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