UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN ______________________________________________________________________________ 1000 FRIENDS OF WISCONSIN, INC., Plaintiff, Case No.

11-CV-545 v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, RAY LAHOOD, Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation, FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, VICTOR MENDEZ, Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, STATE OF WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, and MARK GOTTLIEB, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Defendants.

JOINT CIVIL L.R. 7(h) EXPEDITED NON-DISPOSITIVE MOTION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS ______________________________________________________________________________ The parties to this civil lawsuit, by their undersigned counsel, respectfully seek nondispositive relief through this expedited motion brought pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7(h). By this motion, all parties request that the Court stay further proceedings in this case for a period of one year, or until November 1, 2012, to permit further administrative proceedings to take place during that time period. As grounds for this motion, the parties submit jointly the following: 1. Plaintiff 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Inc. brings this action against the defendants

under the Administrative Procedures Act. The Complaint challenges the final action of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) approving a project to expand Wisconsin Highway 23 from

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two lanes to four lanes on an approximately nineteen-mile segment of the highway in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan Counties. Plaintiff contends that the FHWAs approval of the project is unlawful because it was based on a Final Environmental Impact Statement that FHWA and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation prepared without adequate consideration of the environmental and other impacts of the project, and without holding an adequate public hearing. 2. The state and federal defendants have denied the substance of these allegations.

Nevertheless, defendants desire the opportunity to re-examine the Final Environmental Impact Statement, conduct additional hearings, and if necessary, issue a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. It is anticipated that any supplemental documents will address, and perhaps moot, some of the central concerns raised in the plaintiffs Complaint. 3. Following extensive internal consultation regarding the status of the Highway 23

project, defendants believe these supplemental administrative procedures can reasonably be accomplished within one year. 4. The parties have discussed this motion with each other, and all concur. Respectfully submitted,

November 7, 2011 Date

/s/ Richard Briles Moriarty RICHARD BRILES MORIARTY Assistant Attorney General Wisconsin State Bar Number: 1017190 Attorneys for Defendants, State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and Mark Gottlieb Wisconsin Department of Justice P.O. Box 7857 Madison, WI 53707-7857 Phone: 608-267-2796 2

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November 7, 2011 Date

/s/ Charles H. Barr CHARLES H. BARR Wisconsin State Bar Number: 1004802 Attorney for Plaintiff CROEN & BARR LLP 250 East Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1550 Milwaukee, WI 53202 Phone: 414-226-2080 Fax: 414-892-5752 Email: cbarr@croenbarr.com

November 7, 2011 Date By:

JAMES A. SANTELLE United States Attorney

/s/ Chris R. Larsen CHRIS R. LARSEN Assistant United States Attorney Wisconsin State Bar Number: 1005336 Attorney for Federal Defendants Office of the United States Attorney Eastern District of Wisconsin 517 East Wisconsin Avenue, Room 530 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Telephone: (414) 297-1700 Fax: (414) 297-4394 Email: chris.larsen@usdoj.gov

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