[Reprinted from The Capital Times, October 28, 1995. -Ed.]
By Mike Ivey
Gov. Tommy Thompson, no doubt realizing he expended lots of political capital on the Brewers stadium deal, has been working harder than usual on his image.
Included was a recent trip to the Southern Kettle Moraine Forest for some real off-road mountain biking with officials from the Trek Corp. Reports are the governor, who was outfitted on the latest shock-absorbing mountain bike, handled the John Muir trail fairly well for a first-timer.
Yet while Tommy is breaking a sweat to show how much he loves bicycles, his transportation policies don't reflect the same concern.
Witness the hoopla surrounding the opening of the Verona bypass, a $31 million project done basically to save Sprawlsville commuters a precious three minutes each morning.
Right next to the sparkling new white cement sits the Military Ridge state bike trail, unfinished and ignored. Even though the bridges have been in place for years and the old railroad tracks pulled, the crucial section between Verona and Madison remains unridable. What gives?
Bill Moorman, head of trails for the DNR, says the DOT is holding up the $250,000 needed to complete the project between County PB and PD. Plans call for an asphalt Path to handle the anticipated high volume of bike traffic.
But Mike Rewey of the DOT says the money isn't there because the governor's transportation budget is so tight.
Apparently the bicycle community needs to pony up to Thompson's re-election campaign if it wants a slice of the pie.
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? ? ? About the BCP |
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