Originally posted on The County Today. By Heidi Clausen, Regional Editor | clausen@amerytel.net. Local roads throughout Wisconsin, but especially those in the state’s northwestern region, are on a collision course for disaster, according to a new analysis.
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Originally posted in the Leader-Telegram, by Joe Knight. Study: More gas tax dollars are being funneled into expanding highways in Milwaukee, Madison while rural roads deteriorate. When Eau Claire residents fill their gas tanks, they have an expectation that a good portion of the per-gallon gas tax they pay goes toward maintaining local roads.
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In a recent testimony to the Joint Finance Commission of the Wisconsin Legislature, WisDOT Secretary Mark Gottlieb accused “certain groups” of cherry picking traffic numbers to show that VMT on the I94 corridor in Milwaukee has gone down over the last decade. It is likely that he was referring to 1000 Friends’ recent analysis of traffic counts across the state that show consistent declines in driving on almost every single major highway.
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Originally posted on Kenosha News – Our View. Potholes in the streets of Kenosha are a local problem, but they aren’t a unique local problem. Local roads all over the state are in bad shape, according to a study by the organization 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin.
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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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A large part of the $850 million state officials want to spend on widening Interstate 94 could instead go to many southeastern Wisconsin roads that are in urgent need of repair, according to a new study. An analysis of Wisconsin Department of Transportation data by a pair of transportation advocacy groups finds that about 2,500 miles of local roads throughout the region are in a “failed, very poor, or poor” condition. The analysis, released Thursday, concludes that one in three southeastern Wisconsin roads are in urgent need of surface repairs.
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