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City council committee joins drive to abandon highway project in La Crosse marsh

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On the anniversary of a 1998 referendum against building a highway through marshland, a La Crosse city committee votes to end the highway proposal for good. 

The city council judiciary committee supports a request to have the state eliminate the North-South corridor plan from its list of future projects. 

Council president Martin Gaul believes there’s not much support any more for building new highways in the city.    

The request to end the road project now goes to the full city council, but the Wisconsin DOT makes the final decision.  

It was on November 3rd, 1998 that La Crosse voters backed a plan to stop city funding for the corridor project, but the DOT has continued to list the highway as a future project needed because of area traffic levels.

Committee member Jessica Olson says the city needs to defend the marsh against construction projects.    

Olson says it’s fitting that Chris Kahlow, who has fought for years against the corridor plan, is now a city council member herself and can vote to discontinue the project. 

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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