[This appeared in the Views of the Capital Times in the August 2, 1998 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal. As bicyclists and environmentalists we concur with this assessment of the recent decision by the Federal Highway Administration to delay plans by WisDOT to expand US highway 12 to four lanes. -Ed.]
"I personally find it morally unacceptable to try to control land use through unsafe highways," says Matthew Hintze, project supervisor of the proposed U.S. 12 expansion. "It doesn't work. A two-lane highway is not land use control."
Amen to that.
Who could be for unsafe highways?
But, as County Executive Kathleen Falk has noted, there's more to the U.S 12 debate than a choice between dan gerous roads and conservation. And just as a two-lane highway is not land use control, so a four- lane highway is not a guarantee of safe transportation or sound development strategy.
That's something that's gotten lost in the knee-jerk reaction of some politicians and at least one newspaper to the U.S. 12 delay.
Proponents of expanding the twolane highway to four lanes got upset last month when the scheme was delayed by the Federal Highway Administration. The delay came because of concerns that the project's environmental impact statement failed to adequately address. development pressures on the Baraboo Range National Natural Landmark.
Hintze struck back by suggesting that the people of southcentral Wisconsin are being forced to drive unsafe highways by tree- hugging bureaucrats.
Hintze and his media allies are just playing politics, however.
No one on either side of the U.S. 12 debate wants unsafe roads.
But no one in a right mind wants out-of-control development that spoils the environment, creates even greater traffic jams and destroys one of the country's richest agricultural bases.
National Park Service officials argue that expandingU.S. 12 would have a particularly adverse impact on the 57,000 acres of land that comprise the Baraboo Range, an area thatcontains Devils Lake State Park and that has been designated for conservation because of its ecological and geological significance.
"Making this a four-lane highway will channel commercial and residential development into the scenic areas of the Baraboo Range," says Tom Gilbert, of the parks service. "Adverse impacts to the Baraboo Range will be irreversible."
The same goes for adverse impacts on the rural, farm-based character of the areas along U.S. 12. If the road is expanded to a four-lane highway without proper concern for patterns of development, this agricultural area Will soon give way to suburban developments of the sort that have turned townships around Madison into endless tracts of strip malls, treeless lots and overpriced houses.
"There needs to be an adequate analysis of the land use impacts of the project," says Falk, who says that concerns for farmland preservation and environmental protection can be balanced with highway safety.
After reviewing transportation safety studies and driving U.S. 12, Falk and Gilbert argue from a place of knowledge that a two- lane U.S. 12 can be made significantly safer. That should be the short-term focus of the state Department of Transportation.
Perhaps, in the long term, a plan for a four-lane U.S. 12 that does not lead to the destruction of natural resources and western Dane County's agricultural character can be developed. But, so far, the no such plan exists.'
That's why people who care about the future of Springfield Comers and Parfrey's Glen - and all the other rural communities that make up this special region - should be pleased that the rush to expand U.S. 12 has been wisely and responsibly delayed.
The views in this space are provided by The Capital Times, Dane County's afternoon newspaper. You can respond by email to tctvoice@captimes.madison.com or by regular mail to Voice of the People, PO Box 8060, Madison, WI 53708.
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