Forward Janesville - TheReport - Fourth Quarter 2021

THE END OF THE ROAD 14 • W W W . F O R W A R D J A N E S V I L L E . C O M In the wake of the 2008 GM plant closure, our organization created a set of legislative priorities that would help get Janesville and Rock County moving again. Our top priority was the expansion of I-39/90 from the state line to Madison. Interstate 39/90 has long been the backbone of southern Wisconsin’s economy. The University of Wisconsin estimates that between $650 million and $800 million in economic activity flows along the I-39/90 corridor each and every day. This commerce flows to all parts of Wisconsin and the Midwest. Unfortunately, the shortcomings of this stretch of I-39/90 were becoming well known back in those days. The pavement was substandard. There were frequent, reliable, and frustrating traffic jams. Some of the interchanges were downright scary. And the Interstate had accident rates that were significantly higher than the state and national average. Frankly, these problems were transforming this asset into a liability. This was something that our area simply could not afford. The odds were not in our favor, as the I-39/90 expansion project was firmly on the state government back burner. The Wisconsin Transportation Projects Commission, the formal body responsible for greenlighting major highway projects for construction through a process called enumeration, hadn’t met since 2002. Forward Janesville’s involvement in this project ramped up in 2009, when we convened a group of community leaders and transportation industry stakeholders to develop a plan for getting this project underway. The centerpiece of the plan was the I-39/90 NOW Coalition, a broad coalition of business, community and economic development leaders and concerned citizens from Beloit to the Wisconsin Dells. The I-39/90 NOW Coalition went live in early 2010 with hundreds of members all along the corridor. The Coalition’s efforts generated a groundswell of support and momentum for the project, which culminated with an extraordinary meeting with Governor Doyle in August 2010. We came to his office with a bevy of community leaders, Dan Cunningham • Vice President of Government Affairs and Education • danc@forwardjanesville.com