Data is rolling in to support what critics, including this blog, have been saying for a long time: Wisconsin's fixation with adding more roads and lanes, regardless of proven need, has led to misspending on what we don't need inattention to the roads we already have.
Even Donald Trump has noticed that our roads are "a disaster."
As 1000 Friends of Wisconsin has been telling us for years.
Here's new data.
Here's a national report from Politico.com.
More recent information.
A 2013 report.
2010.
A 2009 story.
And a reference to Scott Walker's key role in 2003 boosting the maximum number of miles of new lanes and wider ramps added to the so-called SE Wisconsin Free[sic]way system, larding on hundreds of millions of fresh public dollars and debt to a bloated, multi-billion road-builders' over-building dream only about half-finished yet.
Remember, the system as 'improved by WisDOT - - with virtually no new commitment to transit - - will get new lanes proposed by unelected, suburban-leaning planners without a single City of Milwaukee representative on its ruling body - - all the way south through Walworth County, north across Ozaukee County to the Sheboygan County line, and west across all of Waukesha County to the Jefferson County line, too - - while I-94 N/S isn't done yet to Illinois and the nearly $2 billion Zoo Interchange mucking up the Waukesha County/Milwaukee County line is years from completion.
And only God knows how much the expansion through or over I-94 in Milwaukee past Miller Park and Story Hill is going to cost - - despite opposition from the Milwaukee city government.
So get used to the potholes and lack of state aids to municipalities already starved of cash by state-imposed spending limits; there's no money to fill and fix what polling your tires and bating your shocks and tie-rods - - in part because the road-builders make more money laying down new concrete and building new bridges and overpasses and adding ramps than there is installing lower-profit asphalt patches.
Even Donald Trump has noticed that our roads are "a disaster."
As 1000 Friends of Wisconsin has been telling us for years.
Here's new data.
Here's a national report from Politico.com.
More recent information.
A 2013 report.
2010.
A 2009 story.
And a reference to Scott Walker's key role in 2003 boosting the maximum number of miles of new lanes and wider ramps added to the so-called SE Wisconsin Free[sic]way system, larding on hundreds of millions of fresh public dollars and debt to a bloated, multi-billion road-builders' over-building dream only about half-finished yet.
Remember, the system as 'improved by WisDOT - - with virtually no new commitment to transit - - will get new lanes proposed by unelected, suburban-leaning planners without a single City of Milwaukee representative on its ruling body - - all the way south through Walworth County, north across Ozaukee County to the Sheboygan County line, and west across all of Waukesha County to the Jefferson County line, too - - while I-94 N/S isn't done yet to Illinois and the nearly $2 billion Zoo Interchange mucking up the Waukesha County/Milwaukee County line is years from completion.
And only God knows how much the expansion through or over I-94 in Milwaukee past Miller Park and Story Hill is going to cost - - despite opposition from the Milwaukee city government.
So get used to the potholes and lack of state aids to municipalities already starved of cash by state-imposed spending limits; there's no money to fill and fix what polling your tires and bating your shocks and tie-rods - - in part because the road-builders make more money laying down new concrete and building new bridges and overpasses and adding ramps than there is installing lower-profit asphalt patches.
Walker Flies so roads are not something he has to deal with -- at least he doesn't have to deal with them here in Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure someone will use prevailing wage as the reason we can't repair our roads. Politicians are too damn ideological.The oil industry can raise gas a buck and we still have shitty roads. But in Wisconsin, the fear of raising the gas tax 2 pennies would mean going against principle and party.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to run for a state Assembly - as an independent.
Now this bad policy on Walker's part needs to be linked to his receipt of campaign cash from road building interests. In other words, how much of this is bad policy and how much is just Walker's selfish pursuit of his own political ambitions?
ReplyDeleteOur absentee divide-and-conquer governor needs money from road construction insiders to fund his presidential ambitions much more than he needs support from voters in Wisconsin. Roads are for little people.
ReplyDeleteRoads in the Northern half of the state are crumbling. All rural roads are going to crap. On a recent drive into Milwaukee, the city highways have potholes which make them unsafe to drive on. The beating my car takes costs me far more per year than anything I have saved in taxes. Of course if I add in about 6000 bucks per year lost in wages and add the thousands of dollars taken from my retirement because walker made it legal to beak contract and steal money, and you might see why I have become very bitter towards the dirt bags in the GOP.
ReplyDeleteAnother Walker Lie (not surpising, right?)
ReplyDeleteFrom PolitiFact: Says under his leadership "Wisconsin median household income" is up 2.7%, while it is down 1.3% nationally under President Obama.
— Scott Walker on Tuesday, July 21st, 2015 in a tweet
MOSTLY FALSE (and remember, this is from Walker's biggest in-state media advocate, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. They are being generous here -- should have been rated fully false.
I, for one, am really sick of the nonstop road construction. They just finish one and have to start over at the beginning with the ones they fixed 10-15 years ago. I cannot believe with human ingenuity that they cannot make roads to last much, much longer than they do.
ReplyDeleteAll this freeway building ensures future $$$ for the road builders: build, replace/repair/deconstruct, build, replace/repair/deconstruct, and so on.
ReplyDeleteThey're even constructing 'alternate routes' (really alternate freeways) for use when the next major freeway building occurs: Capitol Drive (East/West) and Mayfair Road/Highway 100 (North South) are being expanded to 3, 4 and, in some places, 5 lanes.
5 cents
ReplyDeleteIf modern roads were just used by passenger cars, yes, they'd have almost unlimited lifespans. The wear and tear comes almost exclusively from heavy trucks who pay nothing in taxes anywhere near covering the damage they do.
Anon 7:32 - I guess that's what Elizabeth Warren was referring to when she said 'You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for' in her remarks below:
ReplyDelete“There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”