Cost of I-39 expansion balloons to $1.75 billion

MADISON - A plan to rebuild I-39 from Madison to the Illinois state line will approach $2 billion — nearly 21⁄2 times as much as the Department of Transportation said the project would cost six years ago.

The latest figures underscore the challenges lawmakers face in funding roads. Republicans who control state government are split on whether to funnel more money toward roads.

In 2011, lawmakers approved rebuilding I-39 with added lanes after the state Department of Transportation determined the job could be done for $715 million.

But an updated estimate puts the cost of the project at $1.75

billion.

The full cost wasn’t clear until recently because of how Gov. Scott Walker’s DOT had been tabulating the costs.

The agency earlier told lawmakers the price had swollen to $1.2 billion but in February 2015 stopped including in its estimate the cost of rebuilding the interchange where I-39 connects with the Beltline that runs along Madison’s south side.

The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported on Wednesday that that interchange would cost $550 million, bringing the total project cost to $1.75 billion.

The bulk of the project is on course to meet its 2021 deadline, but the Beltline interchange won’t be finished until sometime between 2022

and 2026 — one to five years behind schedule.

The Journal Sentinel first asked about the cost of the Beltline interchange in July, but the DOT didn’t release the estimates until recently.

Transportation Secretary David Ross told lawmakers last month he had ordered his staff to find cheaper ways to build the interchange because he viewed the $550 million price as too high.

The Department of Transportation gave lawmakers updated figures that were detailed Wednesday in the fiscal bureau’s report.

The disclosure of the cost of the project comes as Republicans who control the Legislature debate whether to put more money toward roads.

Gov. Scott Walker has said he opposes raising the gas tax, but Republicans in the Assembly have said the idea should be considered. They want to find $300 million more for highways over the next two years.

Like Walker, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) has said he is reluctant to raise the gas tax but last week floated the idea of using more funds from the state’s main account to pay for roads. That account is used for schools, health care for the elderly and poor, and a host of programs.

Fitzgerald said Tuesday that tapping into the main account would not solve the state’s long-term transportation problems but would give the highway budget some “breathing room” while lawmakers figure out what to do.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said he would consider taking money from the state’s main account but did not believe it would fix the problem.