Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday poor decisions were made at high levels of emergency management about the conditions that left thousands of motorists stranded for several hours on Feb. 6.

The backup on the northbound lane of I-90 from Stoughton to Janesville during the Feb. 6 snowstorm could have been handled better by the Department of Transportation and Wisconsin Emergency Management, according to a report by Brig. Gen. Donald Dunbar of the Wisconsin National Guard.

The report indicated severe communication problems between state troopers, the Emergency Operations Center and Wisconsin Emergency Management.

�There is no doubt that this should have been handled much better,� Doyle said. �We should be very, very thankful that we are not dealing with a worse situation than what we have. We have people who were terribly inconvenienced, and I apologize to those people.�

The storm left many motorists stranded throughout the afternoon and overnight, as snow accumulations of up to 21 inches were recorded in some areas. At its longest, some calls from stranded motorists reported the line stretched from Stoughton, just south of Madison, to the Illinois border.

Some assistance from the Department of Natural Resources, the National Guard and private citizens helped to get food, water and blankets to the motorists.

�Despite all those efforts that were being made out on the road by really hard-working people � at the higher levels, some very significant mistakes were made and some significant failures that are pretty clearly laid out in the report,� Doyle said.

The report indicated that state troopers busy responding to accidents across the area did not realize soon enough that the backup on the interstate was becoming an emergency situation.

�When there was an identifiable crisis, even on this night, everyone responded really well,� Doyle said. �There was not one identifiable event that created this crisis � the failure was not understanding that a crisis was building and building and building.�

Wisconsin Emergency Management decided that the storm prediction was of a severity that warranted partial activation of the State Emergency Operations Center. The center would be staffed with representatives from a long list of state and county agencies.

Due to lack of communications, EOC officials thought the situation was not as grave as it was and started sending people home.

�They were ready to shut down at 5:00 p.m. because they thought everything was in control,� Doyle said. �There was just very poor communication.�

Another problem was an attitude that Wisconsin does not shut down its highways, according to the report.

�The state must develop plans to shut down the interstate if warranted, even if that means we cannot offer a re-route to transiting traffic,� Dunbar said in letter to Doyle at the beginning of the report.

As long as a few cars were making it through, the road was considered passable, according to Doyle.

The report commended the work done by the DNR, �which had no obvious role in a traffic-related event,� and the National Guard in helping the stranded motorists.

The congestion is believed to have started just after 11:30 a.m. due to a traffic accident. Slippery conditions along with the incline on that part of the road made it difficult for traffic to make it up the hill.� By 4 p.m. some motorists had been stranded for four hours in a backup that was more than 20 miles long.�

�The DNR called me at 7:00 in the evening. I should have known by early afternoon,� said Doyle.

The report recommends �a full review of operations center procedures be undertaken by the Department of Transportation and Wisconsin Emergency Management.�

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� Beth Mueller contributed to this report.