Mason, Turner calling for eight-lane interstate

Update: I'll leave the original post, but here's a clarification. Mason and Turner are calling for an eight-lane interstate from the Mitchel airport exit to the Illinois border. In other words, they are in favor of four lanes in each direction, which means one new lane in each direction. They are not in favor of a 10-lane interstate as I first wondered.

In talking with Mason, he explained the state is in a comment period on the project. Some people are advocating for keeping the interstate at three lanes in each direction. Mason said he supports four lanes because it will help economic development in Racine County and create more construction jobs for local residents to help build the highway.

It's also worth noting the project will "unbraid" the frontage roads through Racine County. This is critical to future development, because the current configuration of the frontage roads prevents serious development along the I in the county.

More will be out on this tomorrow when Mason and Turner hold their press conference.

Here's the original post:

Rep. Cory Mason sent out a press release this morning titled, "Racine Leaders to Call for Maximizing Economic Impact of I-94 Reconstruction."

The release then adds: "Local Leaders Support 4 Lane Expansion" and "Four Lanes a Better Option."

So what does this mean? It seems like Mason and Rep. Bob Turner, whose name was also on the release, are in favor of adding four lanes to I-94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois border. If true, that would make the interstate a Los Angeles-esque 10 lanes through Racine County.

I wrote Mason's office for further explanation, and will update when I hear back from them.

The state is already planning to add two lanes to I-94 once it completes the Marquette Interchange project. The interstate expansion is expected to cost $1.9 billion.

Since Mason's plan is touted as an "alternative" to the state plan, it seems like he is calling for a bigger project. He's scheduled a press conference for Friday morning with representatives from the highway construction unions and local job training agencies.

Perhaps a larger roads project is a way to generate jobs for the area.