Frank Busalacchi, Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Biography provided by participant
In January of 2003, Frank Busalacchi accepted Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle's appointment to be Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Busalacchi was formerly the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 200 based in Milwaukee, one of the largest Teamster locals in the state. He began with the Teamsters as a business agent in 1979 and was elected president in 1991 and secretary-treasurer in 1994. Secretary Busalacchi leads one of the largest state agencies with over 3,300 employees. WisDOT's annual budget of nearly $3 billion includes support for all modes of transportation, including state highways, local roads, railroads, public transit systems, airports, harbors and bicycle and pedestrian facilities. The department also operates the Division of Motor Vehicles and Division of State Patrol. Secretary Busalacchi led the state's efforts to rebuild the Marquette Interchange Project in downtown Milwaukee. Completed in 2008, the $810 million project was the largest highway construction job ever in Wisconsin. The Secretary also plays a leading role in national passenger rail issues. In 2005, he accepted the post as chair of the States for Passenger Rail Coalition, an alliance of state DOT's calling for expanded federal support of intercity passenger rail. Secretary Busalacchi has testified to Congress about the importance of passenger rail and is working to improve existing Amtrak service and plan for new high-speed rail service in Wisconsin. Secretary Busalacchi served as a member of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. The commission studied the current condition of the surface transportation system, identified future needs and developed financing recommendations. The Commission submitted its report and recommendations to Congress in January 2008. Secretary Busalacchi has a long-time commitment to improving Wisconsin. He was president of the Summerfest Board of Directors and chair of the negotiating committee responsible for the lease between Milwaukee World Festivals and the city of Milwaukee. He also served as the construction committee chairman for the Miller Park Baseball Stadium construction project. He was a member of the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission advisory committee to the southeast freeway study and a member of the Greater Milwaukee Committee.
I have been encouraged by the forceful action that President Obama has taken on national passenger rail policy. For decades, intercity passenger rail policy has been ignored in the mix of our national transportation priorities. The mode is underdeveloped and is uniquely positioned to serve the critical needs of reducing highway and airway congestion, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, supporting mobility options, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is a down payment that none of us who have worked on rail issues ever envisioned. While the statutory requirement for… Read more
While we have not yet seen a bill from the President-elect and the 111th Congress, Members of Congress are discussing the broad parameters of an economic recovery and reinvestment bill. Some have focused on what the bill should not include – specifically, Appropriations Committee Chairs, Representative David Obey and Senator Daniel Inouye, have weighed in to say that earmarks should not be part of this legislation. So the question turns on how the money will be spent and who will spend it. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair, Representative Jim Oberstar, has put forth a proposal to address this… Read more
The President-elect has chosen wisely in his appointment of Representative Ray LaHood as the next US DOT Secretary. The transportation community is anxious to have a strong partner in the agency, and we are all anxious to work with the new Secretary to create and execute a transportation system that will serve us in the 21st century. To that end, members of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, of which I am one, would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Secretary-designee to review the findings and recommendations in the Commission’s report, released last January. … Read more
Mass transportation -- including all forms of public transportation from shared ride taxis to intercity passenger rail -- must be a focus of the next surface transportation bill. From every public policy perspective -- greenhouse gas emissions, energy policy, mobility and choice -- the time is now to rethink our nation's public transportation goals. Does that mean we should disinvest in highways and bridges? Absolutely not. Our nation's highway network needs investment. We do, however, need to think through how public transportation can integrate with our highway network to support better mobility for our citizens and smarter transportation policy… Read more
President-elect Obama has made a hefty economic stimulus the first item on his legislative agenda and signaled that he wants a significant infrastructure component. How should the money for transportation infrastructure be distributed to maximize job creation in the short run while ensuring that the projects deliver the greatest benefit for the public? And who gets to decide which projects move first? The need to invest in the nation’s deteriorating transportation infrastructure – roads, transit, airports, railways and waterways – existed well before the current economic downturn. Even in the best of times, the level of our transportation investment was… Read more
As I see it, the next transportation bill should be a new beginning in our nation’s transportation policy. It should be a bill of bold vision and recognition that transportation is a key facilitator of our economy and our citizens’ quality of life. Here are five priorities that I believe the administration should consider in creating the next bill: Be bold. Think big. Out of crisis comes opportunity. We have the opportunity to align transportation policy goals with other important policy goals of our nation. Specifically, the next transportation bill must consider national transportation policies in light of climate change and energy policies, just as climate… Read more
Biography provided by participant
