Wisconsin will receive about $160 million in federal grant money to complete the expansion of Interstate-94 south of Milwaukee – about $86 million less than the state requested last year.
The governor’s office announced the grant award Wednesday.
Walker said he isn’t concerned the federal money came in below the state’s request.
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“Our goal was not so much the dollar amount, it was whether or not we could get 90-94 moved up, which we are, and make sure we weren’t taking (money) away from other projects across the state, which we’re not,” he said.
The project, which is expected to cost a total of about $1.7 billion, began in 2009. It repairs and widens the interstate, which is expected to see an increase in traffic as manufacturing begins on the massive Foxconn manufacturing facility in southeast Wisconsin.
Walker said Wednesday the state can make up the expenses not covered in the federal grant with other federal grant money and borrowing.
The state included $252 million in borrowing for the project in the last state budget.
The project will be completed by 2021. It wasn’t scheduled to be done until 2032.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, June 6, 2018 with original reporting from WPR.
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