Monday, March 16, 2009

Our Roads Need Repairs - - So Why Spend Road Budgets On New Roads?

The Journal Sentinel has documented the poor shape of Milwaukee's streets.

So why did the first round of federal transportation stimulus funds include not a nickel for Milwaukee?

And remind me again why the state is pouring $1.9 billion into rebuilding and expanding I-94 between Milwaukee and the Illinois state line, with $200 million for a new lane that will have its own repair schedules?

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission worked together and created a $6.5 billion regional freeway expansion and rebuilding plan, including 127 miles of new lanes.

Not a penny in that plan to rebuild or repair local streets, or, heaven forbid, expand or support transit.

Remember all this the next time you hit a pothole, or follow the debate about whether Milwaukee, unrepresented on the SEWRPC board, should formally withdraw its approximate $220,000 annual property tax transfer to SEWRPC and put that money into a city-based planning body.

1 comment:

Moderator said...

Adding lanes and capacity, at a time when car use is falling, strikes me as a misguided use of resources.

Hopefully the new Federal transportation bill will include a provision that the vast majority of federal funds must be spent on maintenance or mass transit, rather than on new highway capacity. T4America has more information on this.