Wisconsin’s Local Road Crisis

Over 42,000 miles of local roads in the state need immediate repair based on data the Wisconsin DOT database. 14% of all local roads in the state are in pitiable condition – classified by the system as “failed, poor, or very poor”. Rural roads were in worse shape than urban roads, with 44% needing immediate repair, compared to 31 % for urban areas.

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We’re spending way too much building roads

Is Wisconsin building roads for traffic that won’t ever be there? We’re driving less. So why does Wisconsin keep spending more and more on roads — and not just to maintain the infrastructure we have but actually to build new, wider highways? This is the question being put to policymakers by Bruce Speight, director of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, and Steve Hiniker, executive director of the environmental advocacy group 1000 Friends of Wisconsin.

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Fact Checking the WisDOT VMT “factsheet”

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is having a tough time justifying new highway projects when highway use is down. So now they have a new tactic – denial. They simply deny that traffic is down – and they have issued a “fact sheet” to promote their view.

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Don’t blame the Prius! The real reason the transportation fund is running dry

The Wisconsin State Journal in a news article this week states that the state will be short $15.3 billion over the next decade” largely because more fuel-efficient vehicles, including hybrids and electric cars, are eroding state revenues from the gas tax, the largest source of state transportation funding.” These statements have been repeated by DOT officials, media publications and transportation professionals – blaming more efficient cars and electric vehicles for the precipitous fall in state transportation revenues. While this is no-doubt true, this is definitely not the main reason why fuel tax revenues are dropping.

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Calming dangerous roads

Nearly 32,000 Americans die each year from traffic accidents. This is the equivalent of a fully loaded jumbo jet crashing each week. Highway engineers go through the morbid exercise of trying to estimate the number of inevitable deaths on any section of roadway they design. Putting this in context – wouldn’t it be ludicrous if an architect estimated that a certain number of people would inevitably die annually as a direct result of using a building she designs?

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