Federal Court: Wisconsin Uses Bogus Traffic Data to Justify Highways

This article was originally featured on streetsblog.net. By Angie Schmitt. State departments of transportation all over the country use specious traffic projections to justify hugely expensive road widening projects. That’s how you end up with the graph on the right — showing how DOTs continued to forecast traffic growth year after year, even as driving stagnated.

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Press Release: 1000 Friends Calls For Road Audit and Moratorium

Seeks Halt of All Highway Expansions Until Audit on Traffic Projections is Complete. 1000 Friends of Wisconsin today called for an immediate halt to all new highway widening projects until the state conducts an audit of the traffic projections used to justify those projects. The moratorium and audit request comes on the heels of a federal court decision last week that halted the widening of Highway 23 near Fond du Lac because of unjustified and likely erroneous traffic counts predicted for the highway.

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MAJOR LAWSUIT VICTORY FOR 1000 FRIENDS

Federal Court Derails Highway 23 Project. Flawed Traffic Forecasts Ends Federal Funding in Huge Victory for Taxpayers. On Friday, the U.S. Eastern District Court upheld claims in a lawsuit filed by 1000 Friends of Wisconsin and cut off federal funding for the beleaguered Highway 23 road expansion project between Fond du Lac and Plymouth. The Court agreed with the land use organization that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation used unsupported, inflated traffic forecasts to justify the project.

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Local Roads Conditions Viewer

Local Road Conditions – Interactive Map

Find the grade of the local roads in the assembly district you live in. Tell your local legislator that we need to repair and maintain our local roads first, instead of expanding freeways on borrowed money. Click on your legislator’s picture to go to their website, where you will find ways to contact them.

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Press Release – Quadruple Taxation Bill Introduced For Local Roads

Gas taxes, auto registration fees, property taxes and now sales taxes just to fix local roads. 1000 Friends of Wisconsin today slammed a proposal that would require local governments to impose a new tax if they want to maintain local roads, calling the proposal quadruple taxation for road repairs.

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