Citizens Allied for Sane Highways

WisDOT: see no global warming, speak no global warming, mitigate no global warming

2010-06-15T04:26:00.000-07:00

The I-94 North-South reconstruction and lunatic expansion project is well underway. It's cost is projected by the state to be $1.9 billion, but that is a remarkably and deceptively low figure. It does not take into account, for example, the interest payments the state will have to pay on bonding for the project. It also does not take into account costs that We Energies ratepayers will pay for moving utility infrastructure.

How much will interest and utilities cost us? Don't know -- the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has long believed that interest payments aren't real money, even when they cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars per year. It's likely that WisDOT doesn't even know what it will end up paying in interest -- one of the conveniences of working at the agency is that you get to start projects without having a clue as to how you are going to pay to finish them. If you run short of cash, you just borrow more, or cut highway maintenance, or raise taxes to fill in the gap.

One of the true horror shows of the I-94 North-South project is that WisDOT chose to ignore the impacts of global warming when it was making plans to build it. Yes, WisDOT said, adding an extra lane to the freeway will add to global emissions, but we don't know precisely how much it will add, so we are just going to ignore the matter entirely and propose absolutely nothing to mitigate the consequences of increased global warming.

Now a new study from the Federal Highway Administration shows the impacts of global warming on roads and highways. They are many and mostly negative and the laundry list of potential bad things to come is one helluva strong argument for WisDOT to greatly increase its highway maintenance (and repair) budget. Unfortunately, WisDOT generally is moving in the opposite direction, as illustrated by the emergency Zoo Interchange bridge replacement: do nothing until the bridges are ready to fall down, then spend an extraordinary amount to fix problems that could have been prevented for much less.

The new FHWA publication says the Midwest, including Wisconsin, will likely see much wetter winters and springs:

By far the largest seasonal increase in precipitation is projected to occur during the winter months, with an average increase of 6 to 7% and a likely range of +2 to +12% (USGCRP 2009). Annual mean precipitation in Chicago is projected to experience precipitation increases in line with the regional estimates (Hellmann et al. 2007). Heavy precipitation events are also projected to increase during this time, with the frequency of spring rainfall heavy downpours increasing by almost 15% in Missouri, Illinois, and Minnesota under a high emission scenario (A1Fi) compared with 1961-1990 (Union of Concerned Scientists 2009a). In the next two decades, heavy rains are projected to increase by 66% in St. Paul, 35% in Indianapolis, and 20% in Chicago (Union of Concerned Scientists 2009). These increases are expected to increase flooding and overload many drainage systems (USGCRP 2009).

That is bad news for highways. A jump in the number of heavy precipitation events has these consequences:

Increases in weather-related delays and traffic disruptions
Increased flooding of evacuation routes
Increases in flooding of roadways and tunnels
Increases in road washout, landslides, and mudslides that damage roadways
Drainage systems likely to be overloaded more frequently and severely, causing backups and street flooding
Areas where flooding is already common will face more frequent and severe problems
If soil moisture levels become too high, structural integrity of roads, bridges, and tunnels (especially where they are already under stress) could be compromised
Standing water may have adverse effects on road base
Increased peak streamflow could affect scour rates and influence the size requirement for bridges and culverts

It's worth noting that WisDOT proposed steeper center-to-shoulder grades for the new I-94, which will send more contaminated runoff, faster, on to properties that are closer to the wider freeway.

Changes in seasonal precipitation and stream flow patterns have additional results:

Benefits for safety and reduced interruptions if frozen precipitation shifts to rainfall
Increased risk of floods, landslides, gradual failures and damage to roads if precipitation changes from snow to rain in winter and spring thaws
Increased variation in wet/dry spells and decrease in available moisture may cause road foundations to degrade
Degradation, failure, and replacement of road structures due to increases in ground and foundation movement, shrinkage and changes in groundwater
Increased maintenance and replacement costs of road infrastructure
Short-term loss of public access or increased congestion to sections of road and highway
Changes in access to floodplains during construction season and mobilization periods
Changes in wetland location and the associated natural protective services that wetlands offer to infrastructure

More very hot days could lead to:

Increased thermal expansion of bridge joints and paved surfaces, causing possible degradation
Concerns regarding pavement integrity, traffic-related rutting and migration of liquid asphalt, greater need for maintenance of roads and pavement
Maintenance and construction costs for roads and bridges; stress on bridge integrity due to temperature expansion of concrete joints, steel, asphalt, protective cladding, coats, and sealants
Asphalt degradation, resulting in possible short-term loss of public access or increased congestion of sections of road and highway during repair and replacement
Limits on periods of construction activity, and more nighttime work
Vehicle overheating and tire degradation

Taken as a package, those are pretty devastating consequences that will cost Wisconsin residents billions of dollars. WisDOT, by embracing projects and politics that maximize the impacts of global warming, will suck up a larger and larger share of overall tax collections to fix what it has wrecked.

On the plus side, from WisDOT's perspective, is this: warmer temperatures mean longer construction seasons for highway builders to wreak more havoc on the rest of us.

So. Is the gov lying or just getting really, really old?

2010-04-05T03:05:00.000-07:00

Gov. Doyle says the decision to reconstruct North-South I-94 was made before he took office. That’s not true. Evidence of that was presented in a previous post. And now there is more.

From a Jan. 2004 (that’s a full year after Doyle took office) Wisconsin Department of Transportation memo:

WisDOT has created a multi-division team to analyze the SEWRPC (Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission) recommendations and develop a 30-year implementation plan. The review will address key issues:

Timing of critical pavement and bridge needs and the probable need for continued rehabilitation, even prior to and during reconstruction;

Priority staging for corridors and interchanges, and the resulting timetable and costs for planning and environmental studies for each corridor; (Emphasis added)

So there you have it. Doyle did not tell the truth. WisDOT, which makes the actual decisions in issues like this, was still weighing the issue of timing a full year after Doyle took office.

For shame, Mr. Doyle.

Oopsie daisy: More bull from Busalacchi

2010-04-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

Caught again.

Despite Secretary Frank Busalacchi’s denial, politics did indeed play a role in putting the I-94 North-South reconstruction and silly expansion project ahead of Zoo Interchange reconstruction.

From a May, 2004 internal WisDOT memo:

There are two key decisions that must be made shortly. First, the proposed corridor prioritization must be approved or amended. Staff selected these three corridors based on a number of factors. They first reviewed analysis of safety, pavement condition, design deficiencies, and congestion. Staff also included preliminary work already conducted as part of their analysis; as a result, the priority of IH 94 from the Illinois state line to the Mitchell Interchange was elevated. Finally, staff considered the political and physical ease with which a corridor could be reconstructed; this lowered both the IH 94 corridor from the Marquette Interchange to STH 16 and the IH 43 corridor from the Mitchell Interchange to Silver Spring Drive. WisDOT staff requires, therefore, the Secretary’s and the Governor’s approval of these three corridors as the first to be reconstructed. (Emphasis added)

This is the second time the Doyle dudes were caught in a whopper about the Zoo / I-94 decision. Why should we believe anything they say about freeway reconstruction?

The memo is titled “First Crack at Shorter Memo to Secretary.” It was obtained many moons ago by Citizens Allied for Sane Highways, which I-co-chair.

Frank, Frank, Frank. Jim, Jim, Jim. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

2010-04-01T02:09:00.000-07:00

Heavens, guys. If you are going to try to BS your way through a controversy, don’t leave public records in your wake.

Gov. Jim Doyle and his major embarrassment, WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi, are acting like the decision to reconstruct and unnecessarily expand North-South I-94 before reconstructing the Zoo Interchange was made before Doyle ever set foot in the governor’s mansion.

That’s total crap.

In February 2004, a good year after Gov. Jim Doyle took office, his Wisconsin Department of Transportation set priorities for freeway reconstruction. First came I-94 from the state line to the Mitchell Interchange, then came the Zoo Interchange to Richfield, then came I-94 from State Highway 16 to the Marquette Interchange.

These three projects were in “Bucket A.”

Said the WisDOT spreadsheet:

“Bucket A will be the first group of Corridors to be started depending on funding approval and resources available. The order or priorities within Bucket A is the order in which they are listed. This order has been chosen based on the Freeway Implementation Team’s recommended strategy to prioritize, SEWRPC’s recommendation, District 2 Leadership Council’s recommendation, and District 2 SE Freeway Team’s recommendation, which is based on additional research done in District 2…”

Another spreadsheet indicates that SEWRPC made its recommendations in July 2002 and WisDOT weighed in in January 2004. Doyle took office in 2003. Citizens Allied for Sane Highways, which I co-chair, obtained these records in 2005.

The Zoo Interchange and bad spending priorities

2010-03-30T02:15:00.000-07:00

The finger-pointing between gubernatorial candidates Scott Walker and Tom Barrett over who is to blame for the problems with the Zoo Interchange would be laughable, if it did not draw attention away from the real issue — the state’s refusal to take care of the highways it builds.

The past few governors and the state legislature never figured that out — if you build a highway, you need to take care of it. They got the first part of that equation — highway building — down pretty good, but the taking care of it part? Not so much.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has been an agency run amuck for a long time now, enabled by Governors Thompson and McCallum and Doyle and the state legislators who perennially suck up to the road builders. Got an unnecessary interchange project in Waukesha County? The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is there for you. Want to build a sometimes interchange because of a single sporting event? Just call WisDOT.

But boring ol’ maintenance? Never mind.

The facts are rather neatly and depressingly laid out in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s own Budget Trends report. From 1994 through 2009, spending on the three big highway-building programs — major highway development, state highway rehabilitation and southeastern Wisconsin highways rehabilitation — totaled $13.6 billion (transportation debt, most of which is incurred because of those programs, is a separate category). Spending on highway maintenance and operations totaled just $2.7 billion over that same period.

The top blue line is annual highway construction spending. The pink line is annual maintenance spending. Source: Transportation Budget Trends, 2008

Yup. In a state with an aging highway system, the state powers that be decided that only one dollar should be spent on maintenance for every five dollars spent on new construction. Worse, the spending disparity grew over that time period. In 1994 maintenance spending was about 25% of the amount spent on highway construction. In 2009, maintenance spending equaled about 19% of highway construction spending.

Republican Walker, when he was in the state legislature, cast some votes for those bad budgets. But this is a bipartisan issue. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle rejected a request for a 1% annual highway maintenance budget increases for 2009-11.

Where's that Doyle transit plan?

2009-09-01T03:45:00.000-07:00

Remember back in July, after Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed a sales tax increase for transit, he promised his own transit funding plan in a couple of weeks?

It's September now.

Where's that plan, governor?

WisDOT budget shortfall? You're KIDDDDING

2009-08-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is running into a budget shortfall when people are driving less, the country is in a deep recession and the agency is still enamored of magic budgeting. (That's when WisDOT overschedules huge, massively expensive road projects and then collectively closes its eyes and just wishes, wishes real hard that the money to pay for them will somehow just appear.)

The road lobbyists are all pretending that the $49.1 million shortfall signals some fundamental flaw with the state's transportation funding method and that even more money should be picked from taxpayers' pockets and forked over to the road construction firms that will show their gratitude by funneling some of that money into campaign fund accounts or, in as was the case with Gov. Doyle, into his inauguration party fund.

WisIDIOT kannot spel

2009-08-19T02:49:00.000-07:00

From the Wausau Herald:

Highway sign for Business Highway 51 in Rothschild, Schofield misspells every word but ‘exit,’ Wisconsin Department of Transportation points to company named Decker

Wausau Daily Herald

A sign pointing southbound travelers onto Business Highway 51 in Rothschild and Schofield bears an incorrect spelling for every word except “exit.”

David Vieth, director of the bureau of highway operations for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said the mistake was made by Decker Supply Company of Madison, which printed the sign.

The sign for exit 185 on southbound Highway 51 reads “Buisness 51 Rothschield Schofeild.”

“How do I politely say it shows some incompetence on someone’s part?” said Rothschild Village President Neal Torney.

Highway organization funding dwarfs transit

2009-08-19T02:22:00.000-07:00

From our friends at streetsblog.com:

The American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials, or AASHTO, is the road lobby's leading voice, reporting more than $53 million in annual revenue on its most recent publicly available Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filing.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA), which represents local transit agencies as well as companies involved in transit networks, reported $21 million in annual revenue in its most recent IRS filing.

Highways have a better than 2-to1 funding advantage over transit even for their respective national organizations!

Six-lane Zoo Interchange option endorsed by council

2009-07-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

It happened quick, without discussion. The Common Council on Tuesday endorsed a six-lane option for the Zoo Interchange reconstruction.

It was over in an instant, 13-2 (I think). More later.

$2.3 billion does not come close to real Zoo Interchange project costs

2009-07-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation isn't coming anywhere close to the entire truth when it says the Zoo Interchange reconstruction project will cost $2.3 billion.

That is way, way, way too low.

First, it doesn't include interest on bonding. If WisDOT bonds half the project cost (roughly its share of the Marquette Interchange project costs), or $1.15 billion, over 30 years at 7% interest, its interest payments alone will total about $1.6 billion.

Yup, interest paid out of the public pocket on Zoo Interchange bonding could amount to more than twice the base cost of the entire Marquette Interchange reconstruction project.

You can certainly play with the numbers -- a 4% interest rate would mean $835 million in interest payments and a 4% rate with a 20-year payback would mean $532 million in interest payments.

But interest payments are not the only cost WisDOT is conveniently not talking about. The agency's draft environmental impact statement discusses the need to move many, many utility towers that are in the way of the proposed freeway. Some of those costs are included in the $2.3 billion project cost that WisDOT cites, but it is likely that millions and millions and millions in costs related to moving the towers will be incurred by We Energies and American Transmission Co. and, of course, its ratepayers.

WisDOT isn't talking about those costs because they are not state costs. They are, however, our costs, ones we will all be paying through our utility bills. Those costs need to be part of the discussion.

WisDOT has an obligation to the public to talk about the total bill for the Zoo Interchange before design decisions on the project are made.

In which WisDOT shows its demographic ignorance

2009-07-14T03:10:00.000-07:00

This shocker just in from the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Zoo Interchange reconstruction:

"Wauwatosa West and Whitman Elementary Schools have a lower minority percentage than the neighborhoods surrounding the schools."

Minority enrollment at each of those schools is about 30%. Anyone who knows the least bit about western Wauwatosa, where those schools are located, knows that the minority populations in those immediate neighborhoods are nowhere near 30%. (The city as a whole is about 94% white, according to the 2000 census.)

There are not many ways to look at this gross misstatement of fact: either WisDOT knew that its assertion was false, but made it anyway, which is fairly hard to believe; the folks at Madison-based WisDOT are truly that ignorant about Milwaukee demographics; or WisDOT is careless in preparing project documents and readers should be wondering what else it got exactly wrong in this one, the agency's justification for launching a $2 billion plus construction project.

Zoo Interchange comment deadline extended

2009-07-02T05:50:00.000-07:00

Aug. 10 is the new deadline for submitting comments on the Zoo Interchange preliminary environmental impact statement. The city requested the extension from the original July 13 deadline to allow the Common Council more time to develop a position on the document. The Federal Highway Administration approved the request.

Comments should be submitted to:

Jim Lipstack, project manager
Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Southeast Region
141 N.W. Barstow St.
Waukesha, WI 53187

dotdtsdsezoo@dot.state.wi.us

Zoo Interchange would destroy part of butterfly habitat

2009-06-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

A section of the Milwaukee County Grounds, near the Eschweiler buildings, is widely known as a resting place for Monarch butterflies as they migrate to Mexico.

Even WisDOT recognizes that, and then says it wants to destroy part of it.

From the preliminary environmental impact statement for the proposed Zoo Interchange reconstruction project.

During the study, a local conservationist and Monarch butterfly observer noted that a large migratory population of Monarch butterflies uses the Milwaukee County Grounds, near the
Eschweiler Buildings. This location is part of a corridor used by the Monarch butterflies as part of their migration path every year; most heavily used from late August through September as the Monarch butterflies migrate south. The greatest concentration of Monarch butterflies on the grounds can be found in trees near the Eschweiler Buildings. The butterflies use the trees in this area for roosting and adjacent meadow, including a berm along US 45, for nectaring. The berm may also enhance the attractiveness of the site by providing a wind break. While there is a population of Monarch butterflies in the study area, they have no special regulatory protection.

And then this:

The Modernization Alternatives would not affect the trees adjacent to the Eschweiler Buildings that are used by the Monarch butterflies for roosting. The southern half of the berm, between US 45 and the nectaring area, would be removed under both Modernization Alternatives. This would remove some of the nectaring area and part of the wind break that increases the area’s attractiveness to the Monarchs. The northern part of the berm would still provide a wind break for the roosting area and the northern part of the nectaring meadow.

And this:

3.17.3 Measures to Mitigate Adverse Wildlife Impacts
None identified.

So WisDOT wants to destroy part of the butterfly trail. What is the impact of that? Will the butterflies settle for only part of a berm and wind break? Will the added noise and pollution from the closer, bigger freeway scare them off or kill them? Will the cumulative impact of the potential freeway project and the proposed construction of the UWM engineering school harm the habitat?

WisDOT doesn't even consider those things. After all, as the agency notes, the butterflies "have no special regulatory protection."

They are just in the way.

Zoo Interchange public hearings this week

2009-06-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

Public hearings on the Zoo Interchange reconstruction project will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at State Fair Park.

We use the term "public hearing" very loosely, because the Wisconsin Department of Transportation does not allow members of the public to listen to what other members of the public have to say. Hearing participants must give their testimony to a court reporter, in private. Yes, it can be intimidating. That is the point.

Anyway, the hearings will be from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday (June 23) and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Wednesday, June 24). Both will be conducted at the Tommy Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park Gate #5, 640 S. 84th Street in West Allis.

This is a good opportunity to weigh in against WisDOT's over-the-top plans for the interchange. The agency is putting the price tag of the project, with lane expanion, at $2.3 billion, which is so deceptively low it is almost laughable. The project will require huge expenditures by utility companies to move their infrastructure, adding significantly to the cost of the project. Not all of those costs show up in WisDOT project estimates, though, because they will be borne by utility ratepayers and not through the transportation fund.

In addition, WisDOT's plans will have a domino effect, if implemented -- WisDOT does A, which will require local municipalities to reconstruct B, C and D. Again, because those costs are local, WisDOT doesn't count them when totaling up Zoo Interchange costs.

Senate budget gives Oak Creek an interchange

2009-06-18T03:05:00.001-07:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation would pick up Oak Creek's $3.75 million tab for a new I-94 interchange in Oak Creek, under the version of the state budget adopted by the State Senate last night.

The amount is the local share that Oak Creek was expected to kick if it wanted the interchange included in the I-94 North-South reconstruction project. Oak Creek was expected to contribute 25% of the interchange costs.

Even WisDOT acknowledges that construction of the interchange at Drexel Ave. will hurt redevelopment of older commercial areas in the City of Milwaukee.

That not a single Milwaukee Dem spoke out against this proposal is shameful. That WisDOT is expected to pick up Oak Creek's cost for an unneeded, harmful interchange while at the same time the agency is slashing its mowing and routine maintenance efforts statewide is a bad, bitter joke on taxpayers.

Michigan cuts back on mowing, too

2009-06-16T02:39:00.000-07:00

The Michigan Department of Transportation is, like Wisconsin, cutting back on its mowing schedule.

From the Detroit News:

When it comes to Michigan's freeways, cost-cutting is in and grass-cutting is out.
To save as many greenbacks as possible, the Michigan Department of Transportation is making fewer trips to state roadways to mow the slopes, trim trees and pare bushes.
Grosse Pointe resident Suzi Padilla, who does most of her east-side driving on Interstate 94, understands the reason; she just doesn't like the results.

"It bothers me because it makes our city look bad," Padilla said. "For people coming in from Metro Airport, it's their first greeting to the city. It looks terrible. There's probably a lot of garbage caught in the high grass, so that when they do cut it, all this garbage is going to show up."

For MDOT, doing next to nothing has become the economical thing to do. The agency hopes to save up to $30 million this year in labor and fuel costs by mowing and trimming less often.
"The economy is in terrible shape, plus we've had two really tough winters in a row," said MDOT spokesman Bill Shreck. "I think we ended up going $30 million over budget for last winter's maintenance, which means our summer budget is much tighter. We will still concentrate on safety issues -- such as trimming and mowing to maintain good sight distances -- rather than mowing for cosmetic reasons."

According to Shreck, MDOT's maintenance budget is $300 million, which includes salting and plowing, repairing potholes, fixing guardrails, maintaining drains and mowing the freeways.
To save money, MDOT -- which owns or is responsible for nearly 9,600 miles of Michigan's 119,500 miles of roads as well as 4,400 bridges -- will cut once or twice a summer versus three or more in normal years.

Michigan's DOT argues that cutting back on mowing will provide more naturalized, environmentally friendly rights of way, but that is a load of highway litter. Maintaining naturalized green areas is amazingly labor intensive -- what the cutbacks in cutting will produce is a lot of invasive species running rampant through communities.

WisDOT on mowing (or not)

2009-06-15T03:56:00.000-07:00

I asked WisDOT about its new (non)-mowing policy and got the following response by spokesperson Peg Schmitt.

The department has refocused its routine maintenance efforts to assure that essential safety activities are being accomplished. Mowing is one such activity where the benefits are generally related to aesthetics. In order to achieve the essential safety needs, the department has re-directed efforts away from mowing and certain other activities.

The information about refocusing work priorities was shared with counties in April. Counties were informed service to be provided is mowing only a shoulder cut, once a season, with one mower pass (no aesthetic cleanup). The exception is for spot locations where vision is a safety issue for that specific area. Mowing for woody vegetation to the clear zone shall not be done as a standalone work activity, but shall be accomplished with the normal shoulder cut.

The changes apply to the entire state highway system, affecting rural and urban highways, and all roads from low speed roadways to Interstate highways. As noted above, mowing that is directly safety related, typically to provide a clear vision corner at public road intersections, will continue as in the past.

The change is not driven by immediate fiscal concerns. Rather it is the obligation the department has to address the most essential needs first. It is true that fiscal realities play a role in the ability to serve the full range of desired activities. At the same time, it is irresponsible to continue providing lower value services when higher priority needs are not being adequately served. The responsibility to first serve essential safety needs before putting effort into tasks that address mobility, ride and comfort, or aesthetics is a long term obligation that will remain in effect and only change if there is some other determination as to the highest priority services to be accomplished.

There are a few other situations where an exception may be considered. For example, when establishing new turf the department typically mows the planted area for two seasons under a regimen that is designed to improve the quality of the turf. There is also the potential that exceptions could be warranted based on other conditions that could be related to the growing conditions or perhaps fire danger potentials. The department will continue to assess such situations as needed and determine whether exceptions may be warranted.

This service direction may also need to be modified due to new funding constraints that are contingent on the biennial budget that is under consideration by the legislature.
The guidance for when the mowing is done is developed by the department. The department’s regional maintenance coordinators work with individual counties to share the guidance and establish work priorities.

US DOT Secretary LaHood: ignored in Wisconsin

2009-06-15T02:54:00.000-07:00

It's easy to appreciate US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's commitment to Transportation methods other than the automobile.

From a New York Times Q and A:

President Obama has talked about his desire to wean Americans off automobiles. What we’ve talked about is getting to a concept that we call livable communities, where people don’t have to get in a car every day. You can use light rail, you can use buses, you can use walking paths, you can use your bike.

The conservative columnist George Will recently denounced you as the “secretary of behavior modification,” in reference to your plan to have Americans give up cars.
When George came over here for lunch, I could tell from the tone of our conversation that he wasn’t particularly keen on what we were trying to promote here.

If the Obama / LaHood team think George Will is hostile, wait til it gets better acquainted with the Jim Doyle / Frank Busalachhi team. All highways, all the time. Alternative transportation to the state guys mean converting a six-lane freeway into an eight-lane freeway.

WisDOT: the neighbor from hell

2009-06-14T04:35:00.000-07:00

Just once.

That's how often the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will have its thousands of miles of rights of way mowed this year.

Just once. And it will be just a partial mow.

Interim Milwaukee County Public Works Director Jack Takerian told county officials that WisDOT delivered the news last month. The state pays counties to maintain state highways.

"Mowing - Efforts will be reduced," Takerian wrote in a memo. "The service to be provided is mowing only a shoulder cut, once a season, with one mower pass (no aesthetic cleanup). The exception is for spot locations where vision is a safety issue for that specific area. Mowing for woody vegetation in the clear zone shall not be done as a stand-alone work activity, but shall be accomplished with the normal shoulder cut. Such mowing will be in accordance with the thresholds and cycles prescribed in the WisDOT maintenance manual. Should the Milwaukee County decide to cut more than WisDOT has approved we would be doing so at our own expense."

Once a year. WisDOT officially risen to the level of "neighbor from hell." Not only will state-owned highways look awful, the invasives that WisDOT has been breeding there for the past several years won't even be cut down in a timely fashion, allowing them to flower, seed and spread.

There's more. WisDOT, ever happier building new highways, doesn't want the county performing routine maintenance on the existing ones.

"Preventative Maintenance and non-emergency concrete repair are considered non-critial and do not meet the State threshold for routine maintenance priorities," Takerian wrote.

The state is looking at other ways to get these things done, he said.

Meanwhile, while the state is looking, roads deteriorate.

And when WisDOT does get around to trying take care of its property, the problems will be much bigger and much, much more expensive to fix.

Spend, baby, spend -- even if you don't have it

2009-06-03T02:20:00.000-07:00

The federal Highway Trust Fund is near empty again.

From the Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration said as much as $17 billion in additional federal money is needed to maintain roads and bridges over the next two years, underscoring the challenges policy makers face as driving habits change.

The recession and gas-price increases over the past two years have caused many consumers to drive less and switch to more fuel-efficient cars. The result has been a fall in revenue from taxes on gasoline and vehicle purchases, which are used to fund state and local transportation projects.
The highway trust fund will need an injection of as much as $7 billion by September or states would not receive all the money they are counting on to finance construction projects later this year, the administration said.

In addition, the fund will need as much as $10 billion more, or roughly 25% of what it distributes to states each year for road work, in the 12 months after September, the administration said.

"The administration is working closely with Congress to solve this difficult problem and ensure that states have the resources they need to maintain our roads and highways," a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. He declined to offer any specific solution.

The State Department of Transportation is looking for help from the fund with the $1.9 billion North-South I-94 reconstruction and expansion project and will eventually have its hand out for the $2.3 billion Zoo Interchange reconstruction and expansion project.

Oil rises; WisDOT plows ahead

2009-06-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

Oil hit $67.52 a barrel yesterday, a six-month high.

As the Wall Street Journal reported:

Oil prices are now double their 2009 low on the prospect that demand will soon begin to improve, providing relief from bulging crude stockpiles. For evidence, investors have looked to economic indicators showing a slower rate of decline in the U.S. and, more recently, signs that China's economic engine is revving back up.

Prices will undoubtedly soar much higher when people actually start finding jobs and housing stops cratering.

And still the Wisconsin Department of Transportation pushes freeways instead of transit. A bad policy decision if ever there was one.

Zoo Interchange plans omit transit considerations

2009-06-01T03:38:00.000-07:00

The $2.3 billion price tag for Zoo Interchange reconstruction includes absolutely nothing for potential future transit integration.

Zero. Zip. Nada.

No potential for rail to the County Grounds, Mayfair, Highway 100, or Miller Park (east of the project area) is considered.

Employers, meanwhile, are crying out for a modern transit system that can get workers to and from jobs.

WisDOT, instead, looks only cramming more cars on to bigger roads, both freeways and local streets. More on this later.

The very likely long delay in Zoo Interchange reconstruction provides a very appropriate opportunity to reconsider and correct the bad decision to ignore transit in the study.

WisDOT revenue could decline: tax hikes on the way?

2009-04-29T03:39:00.000-07:00

There are fewer miles being driven in fewer new trucks, depriving the Wisconsin Department of Transportation of funds needed for unneeded highway projects.

Are stealth taxes on the way? Indeed, we could very well be headed back to the days when state legislators, too timid to vote for tax increases they favor, make the increases automatic.

The only thing keeping the transportation fund growing over the next two years is Gov. Doyle's proposed oil company profits tax, according to projections by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Almost all of the $265 million in new revenue contained in the governor's proposed transportation budget comes from the oil fee, according to the LFB memo.

"Without these tax and fee changes, net transportation fund revenues would fall by 1.1% in 2009-10, relative to 2008-09, and by 0.3% in 2010-11, relative to 2009-10, due primarily to falling motor fuel tax collections and increasing revenue bond debt service," the memo said.

Since the oil tax seems to have a very slim chance of ultimate survival and since Doyle must keep the road builders fat, happy and busy because he is beholden to their campaign largesse and since he recently is opinining in favor of automatic gas tax indexing (which he recently opposed), get ready to pay more to drive less.

Obama: Highway hype, big time

2009-04-15T03:26:00.000-07:00

President Obama declared this week that stimulus-funded transportation projects were coming in ahead of schedule and under budget.

What?! How would he know? Most of the projects aren't done; they aren't even started. Obama's press event was simply an opportunity to lay it on thick for an unquestioning press corp.

What will happen if massive cost overruns start occurring in two years? Who will pay those bills?

The stimulus package is funding some needed transportation projects and some silly, wasteful ones like expansion of North-South I-94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois state line. In addition, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation seems intent on sending regional stimulus money to Washington County and uber-rich River Hills, where it is needed far less than it is needed in Milwaukee and Milwaukee County.

Come on, Mr. President. Pay attention to what is happening, and quit trying to sell as real what hasn't happened yet and perhaps never will.

Arthritis, highway proximity linked

2009-04-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

Rheumatoid arthritis is a nasty, crippling disease.

Now the New York Times reports it may be linked to living near a highway.

Carpenter calls for halt to throwing money away on I-94 expansion; Bauman agrees

2009-04-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

State Sen. Tim Carpenter this week called for the state to abandon its plan to expand North-South I-94, an effort that was applauded Thursday by Milwaukee Ald. Robert Bauman.

In announcing his opposition to freeway expansion, Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) cited findings from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's on environmental impact statement on the project.

"Reconstructionof this freeway is needed; expansion is not," he said. "Adding more lanes would increase the cost of the project by about $200 million to a total of $1.9 billion, but would provide littled ifference in travel times or any other significant benefit.”

That $200 million could create jobs related to fixing streets that are desperately in need of repair, he said.

"We should allow cities and towns to use such funds for greatly needed local road reconstruction, and pothole, sewer and water systems repair,” he said.

Gov. Jim Doyle and Transportation Secretary Frank Busalachhi are pushing ahead with freeway expansion, despite its limited benefits and high cost.

Spending $200 million on expanding the freeway “is an extravagance," Carpenter said. "It is not in the best of interests of Wisconsin taxpayers or drivers. When millions are needed for local infrastructure repair, spending $200 million on this freeway expansion is not prudent."

Bauman, in supporting Carpenter's stance, said that spending $200 million on expandion "is a massive waste of money during tough economic times that could and should be used instead to fix local streets and create job opportunities here.”

Bauman said the city's street pains are outlined in the findings of a comptroller's report. Among them:

214 miles (approx. 20% of the city’s streets) are in “poor” condition and require “immediate replacement.”
Milwaukee has a total of 1,415 miles of roadway of which 1,024 miles are local residential streets (the others are state highways, arterials and collectors).
448 miles (43%) of local streets are in fair condition; and 361 miles (35%) are in good condition.
The average age of local streets is 41.7 years.
The average life of a local street is 50 years.
The average cost to replace a mile of local street is $910,000.
The current replacement cycle for local streets is 106 years.
City budgets have underfunded local street replacement/reconstruction for at least two decades.
The 2009 city budget appropriated $10.3 million for local street onstruction/replacement.
The city would need to appropriate approximately $25.5 Million per year to achieve a 1:1 ratio of service life to replacement cycle (replacement of 28 miles of local streets per year).

Milwaukee stiffed again

2009-04-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

It does not look like Milwaukee will get any road improvements with stimulus money, at least for now, although River Hills likely will fare nicely.

A Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission committee will meet Friday morning to consider three projects for funding. They are:

Reconstruction with additional traffic lanes of CTH Q between USH 41 and Pilgrim Road in Washington County—$3,500,000
Reconstruction with additional traffic lanes of CTH Y between CTH Q and STH 175 in Washington County—$3,658,000
Bridge rehabilitation of River Road bridge (1.2 Miles North of CTH P) over Indian CreekRiver in the Village of River Hills—$307,734

These selections, advanced to SEWRPC by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, seems to totally ignore federal direction that priority be given to projects in economically distressed areas.

What a travesty.

The SEWRPC committee will meet to discuss this at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the Milwaukee County Downtown Transit Center Harbor Lights Room, 909 E. Michigan St.

Yunker says his message was incomplete

2009-03-24T04:06:00.000-07:00

Ken Yunker, executive director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, said he sent an incomplete email when he said, in response to a query about the agency's stimulus spending outreach effort: "I expect the Milwaukee area to discuss this."

What he meant to say, according to Yunker, is this: “I expect the Milwaukee area Advisory Committee on Transportation Planning and Programming will discuss this at their March 20 meeting.”

Consider a skeptical eyebrow to be raised.

Anyway, Yunker said he did indeed as the committee for ideas on public involvement and outreach, but the members had absolutely none.

"We would expect to hold at least one public meeting perhaps during the week of April 6 to explain the funding available, describe the project selection process, and review the candidate projects deemed by WisDOT to be eligible for stimulus funding," Yunker wrote.

Local governments and transit operators -- not SEWRPC -- will submit project proposals to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Yunker said.

"The Commission will receive sometime after April 1 a list of the potential FHWA funded projects which WisDOT determines would be eligible for stimulus funding(projects which can be completed within the necessary timeframe)," he wrote. "These projects will be provided to the Commission’s Advisory Committee on Transportation System Planning and Programming who will determine of the potential projects those to be selected for funding. The Commission has always approved the recommendations of this Advisory Committee."

That $8 million must have been burning a hole in WisDOT's pocket

2009-03-23T02:01:00.000-07:00

WisDOT's desire to build a taxpayer-funded interchange for an individual developer led the state agency to spend $8.8 million on preparation and land acquisition for the interchange, even though the mall it is supposed to benefit isn't there and may never be there.

How the heck did this happen? Hey, WisDOT, next time you are going to sing the blues about funding shortfalls, take a look at the millions you waste every year.

Thanks to Jim Bouman for digging this one up.

ACLU weighs in on SEWRPC dismissiveness

2009-03-23T00:27:00.000-07:00

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's decision to decide how to spend $38.7 million in stimulus money without public input or outreach violated the agency's own written standards and may have violated civil rights law as well, according to ACLU attorney Karyn Rotker.

"The process for discussing the allocation of stimulus dollars, as well as, potentially, the allocation itself, appears to violate civil rights requirements," Rotker wrote to SEWRPC Executive Director Ken Yunker. "Please note that civil rights compliance requirements do apply to the stimulus program, including to the distribution of stimulus funds."

A memo from the Justice Department confirming the applicability of civil rights laws is here.

A SEWRPC committee began meeting Friday to decide how to divvy up the cash. When asked what kind of public outreach efforts the agency would make, Yunker said only that "I expect the Milwaukee area to discuss this."

The committee, according to the Daily Reporter newspaper, did agree to give special consideration to projects in economically distressed areas.

Wrote Rotker: "I strongly object to SEWRPC’s failure to comply with its public involvement program in general, to involve its Environmental Justice Task Force (which is meeting next week) in the process, or to ensure that diverse communities are involved in the decision making process...no notice was sent to interested parties, and there is no public comment period at the meeting (or at any other stated time)."

Rotker noted that SEWRPC failed to meet standards outlined in its own public participation plan for transportation projects. SEWRPC, in that plan, said it would provide "timely notification of, and provision of access to, Commission regional transportation planning and programming activities will be achieved to encourage early and continuous public participation."

SEWRPC also promised, Rotker said, that "beyond...efforts to notify and inform, and obtain input from, the general public, the Commission will seek opportunities to notify and inform, and obtain input from, those most likely to be impacted by transportation proposals. The Commission will, for example, contact community groups of an affected and concerned area, and offer briefings and presentations to those groups at meetings held expressly for that purpose or during regularly scheduled meetings of those groups. Outreach contacts and materials will be done in user-friendly, lay language. Outreach efforts will also particularly be made to notify and inform, and obtain input from, low-income and minority populations."

SEWRPC's total failure

2009-03-20T06:40:00.001-07:00

Below is my question to SEWRPC Executive Director Ken Yunker re. the agency's efforts at communicating with the public about how it should spend about $67 million in federal stimulus funds. It's followed by Yunker's response, which demonstrates once more that SEWRPC just doesn't get it.

The question is actually the second time I asked it. The first time, Yunker just ignored it.

Q: And what will you be doing for public outreach and public input?
A: I expect the Milwaukee area to discuss this.

Totally, totally unacceptable. That is not public outreach. It is passive inertia. There is no vehicle for public input or feedback, nor is there any pro-active effort to inform the public what the agency is considering. At the very least, this topic ought to be on next week's agenda for the SEWRPC Environmental Justice Task Force.

It's not, though. Big surprise.

SEWRPC gets ready to decide: no public input, thank you

2009-03-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

A SEWRPC committee is meeting at 9:30 a.m. in downtown Milwaukee tomorrow (March 20) to start deciding how to spend federal stimulus money to the tune of $38.7 million in Federal Highway Administration surface transportation program funds and $28.5 million in Federal Transit Administration formula funds.

You would think, given President Obama's emphasis on transparency in this process, that SEWRPC would go to great lengths to let people know what it is up to with this particular $67.2 million. As usual, however, public outreach and involvement is not the SEWRPC way.

As of yesterday, if you knew that the SEWRPC committee to debate the spending priorities was the Advisory Committee on Transportation System Planning and Programming for the Milwaukee Urbanized Area, you could go to the SEWRPC web site and find the agenda by clicking on the "Meetings and Agendas" link and then clicking on the committee name. The fact that the chances of you knowing all that are just about nil did not figure into SEWRPC's calculations.

SEWRPC, as far as I know, made absolutely no effort to publicize this critical debate, or invite public input. How about this for SEWRPC's stimulus motto? "It's your money -- now shut up about it."

Sometime between yesterday and today, after CASH inquired about it, the meeting notice was added to the front page of the SEWRPC web site. This means that if you happened to be perusing the front page of that particular web site in the past 24 hours, you could find out the time and location of this meeting.

You do read the SEWRPC web site on a daily basis, don't you?

I asked Yunker specifically what efforts SEWRPC was making to get public input, but Yunker didn't answer the question when he responded to my email. I asked again Wednesday, but did not get any answer at all.

The meeting, by the way, is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the Milwaukee County Downtown Transit Center's Harbor Lights Room, 909 E. Michigan St. The agenda does not include any time for public comment or input.

SEWRPC: another shoddy job

2009-03-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, in developing a key transportation plan, failed to consider key demographic data, overstated the amount of money invested in transit and misrepresented highway funding, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

In one section of its 2009-20012 Transportation Improvement Program SEWRPC "purports to show that only about $227 million is going to highway 'improvements,'" ACLU-Wisconsin attorney Karyn Rotker wrote in comments submitted to SEWRPC. Buried elsewhere, she said, are estimates that, when added, put the highway total for 2009 alone at $346 million.

SEWRPC asserts in the document that transit will receive more than one-third of 2009 expenditures, Rotker wrote.

"By showing the distribution of only the 2009 expenditures -- which includes more than half the projected transit expansion costs for the entire four-year period -- the TIP hides the fact that transit expenditures will constitute a significantly smaller percentage of improvements than SEWRPC asserts," she said.

SEWRPC also failed to include key demographic data, including the following:

The US Census Bureau identified the Milwaukee-Waukesha region as, overall, the most racially segregated region in the country for African-Americans.
60% of African-American adults in Milwaukee live in households with no vehicles, compared to 14% of adult whites in the city.
Fewer than half of African-American and Hispanic adults in Milwaukee County have valid drivers' licenses, compared to 73% of white adults in the county.

"Consequently, African-American and Latino residents of southeastern Wisconsin benefit far less than non-Hispanic white persons from highway expansion and major road improvements, while being far more burdened by reductions in transit service and fare increases," she wrote.

The federal stimulus bill allows surface transportation funds, not just Federal Transit Administration funds, to be used for transit development, she said.

"SEWRPC should prioritize transit development and necessary road repairs in economically distressed areas with these funds," she said. "At the same time, projects -- especially highway improvements and expansions -- that are not in economically distressed areas should be given far lower priority."

More emissions on the way?

2009-03-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation likes to try to peddle the hallucenigenic argument that adding more lanes and more cars to freeways will not increase unhealthy emissions because, in part, air pollution has been trending downward anyway (Yeah, and the housing industry will never crash because it was doing so well five years ago.)

There now is a proposal to increase to 15% the allowable limit of ethanol in gasoline. The current limit is 10.

The New York Times reported that there is some opposition to the proposal.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers joined refiners and several environmental groups in warning that a higher blend level of ehtanol in gasoline would "lead to increased air emissions from gasoline-powered engines and potentially endanger consumers using these engines."

WisDOT has shown very little interest in protecting people from harm that will be inflicted through its freeway expansion plans. Vehicle emissions are bad for living things -- it's that simple. The potential of increased emissions because of ethanol should give WisDOT pause in its freeway expansion frenzy, but don't count on it.

Doyle, tolls, and Lexus lanes

2009-02-19T02:47:00.000-08:00

Gov. Jim Doyle told the JS that the state doesn't have enough transportation funding. Along the way, he said the Zoo Interchange project might have to be delayed (given his recommended funding levels for the Environmental Impact Statement it will be delayed), gutted the reasoning behind expanding North-South I-94, potentially nullfied that project's Environmental Impact Statement and floated the ideas of toll roads and Lexus lanes.

And all in one interview!

Impressive, but it took Mayor Tom Barrett only three sentences to remind Doyle of the embarrassing neglect the state has heaped upon local roads. From hizzoner the mayor:

"We are still missing the fundamental point. We have to have a better balance between local road maintenance and state highway expansion. I'm certainly not excited about any type of toll roads for state highway expansion without addressing the fundamental issue of how we pay for local road maintenance."

Perhaps Doyle's most outrageous idea was turning the planned fourth lanes of North-South I-94 into Lexus lanes, open to motorists willing and able to pay special tolls to use them. The Department of Transportation's shoddy planning and work on the EIS for the project already has led to a civil rights complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union. That complaint, among other things, alleges that WisDOT itself acknowledges that adding the lanes will have only minimal effects on travel times and will hurt efforts to redevelop older commercial strips in Milwaukee, where joblessness and poverty are high. WisDOT did not evaluate the project or transit alternatives as required under civil rights law, according to the complaint.

The ACLU also notes that WisDOT rejected a request from the City of Milwaukee -- the state's only minority-majority city -- not to add the lanes.

And now the governor is talking about economically segregating those additional lanes! Milwaukee residents will suffer most of the consequences of freeway expansion -- the increased noise, air pollution, potential flooding and polluted runoff -- but would be least likely to be able to use that added lane, given the poverty statistics.

In addition, a segregated lane could defeat the stated purpose of expansion, which is to ease overall congestion. If the lane for rich people moves smoothly, but the lanes for the rest of us don't, has WisDOT accomplished its mission? If one lane moves smoothly, but three lanes don't, doesn't that gut WisDOT's already absurd argument that adding lanes reduces air pollution? And do we really want to damage economic development efforts in Milwaukee by expanding the freeway so rich people can drive faster?

WisDOT argues that adding lanes is good for neighborhoods because, without the additional capacity, cars will leave crowded freeways and use city streets instead, jamming local streets and irritating neighborhood residents (WisDOT generally overlooks the benefits of street traffic to businesses that rely on it). If the added I-94 lanes are only for people who can pay for them, what will keep people on the other three still-jammed lanes from leaving the freeway to crowd on those same city streets?

It appears very much that Gov. Doyle approved a freeway expansion so unnecessary that the additional lanes can be reserved for a select group who will be charged to use it so the state can pay for the unneeded expansion. The real solution would be to drop expansion plans, spare Milwaukee the economic and environmental costs and use the money for some real transportation improvements -- namely, transit.

Doyle's transpo budget:: highways dominate

2009-02-18T04:10:00.000-08:00

From Gov. Doyle's Budget in Brief:

A $569 million increase for highw ay projects over two years. Local road aids, though, would be cut 1% in each year of the biennium. (Times are tough, but only for some.)

Some $22.1 million would be passed on to Milwaukee, Madison and Round Lake Beach for federally-eligible highway infrastructure projects.

The $100 million capital grant program designed to benefit the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority stays in the budget, but the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's recommendation for 3% annual increases in transit operating assistance is reduced to 2% in 2010 and 3% in 2011.

Doyle would give regional transit authorities in southeastern Wisconsin, Dane County and the Fox Valley the power to levy up to a 0.5% sales tax within their individual service areas. The RTAs also would be able to receive state and federal aid, issue bonds, and receive fare box revenues.

A WisDOT proposal for futility

2009-02-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is proposing to, by 2013,"develop a more robust program related to the restoration and preservation of high-priority plant communities" on DOT-owned property and rights-of-way, according to its Connections 2030 draft plan.

Such a program is much-needed. Inexplicably, though, the department is proposing to wait until 2014-19 to "cooperate with DNR to develop and implement a rapid-detection and early response program to better control non-native invasive species."

WisDOT hasn't made much effort to control invasive species for a few years now, and it shows in their rapid spread along highways (transportation routes very nicely facilitate the spread of invasives) and beyond. A decision by WisDOT to try to restore native plants, but not to try to control invasives at the same time is pure folly and a waste of time and money. The invasives will (again) wipe out the native plants and march on.

WisDOT already likely has cause millions of dollars in environmental damage through its hands-off (non)treatment of invasives. It's proposal to wait five more years before doing any real work to control them will have devastating consequences.

The public has a chance to weigh in on this and all the proposals in the plan. WisDOT is accepting public comment through Feb. 27. You can email them to connections2030@dot.state.wi.us or send them by snail mail to:

Connections 2030
WisDOT Bureau of Planning
P.O. Box 7913, Room 901
Madison, WI 53707-7913

A big "duh" for WisDOT

2009-02-15T10:53:00.001-08:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is proposing to do what it should have done 20 or 30 years ago. (That is an improvement over much of its transportation planning, which is perfect for the 1950s.)

The draft "Connections 2030 Long-Range Multimodal Transportation Plan" contains this proposal, startling only because it prompts one to wonder, "What the hell has WisDOT been doing all this time?" Here it is:

"Develop a system for identifying maintenance costs associated with new and existing highways and bridges. This will enable department staff and decision-makers to better understand the maintenance costs associated with new construction, as well as the costs associated with the maintenance of the existing state trunk highway system."

It's a little scary that it took the department until 2009 to figure this one out.

WisDOT backs away from Pabst Farms interchange

2009-02-12T03:11:00.000-08:00

State Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi says the state may not build the Pabst Farm interchange after all, according to the Waukesha Freeman.

Gov. Doyle's wasted opportunities

2009-02-12T02:55:00.000-08:00

Gov. Doyle is blowing a prime opportunities all over the place to jump start transit projects in southeastern Wisconsin.

His list of transportation projects to be funded with federal stimulus money contains not a single transit project. None. Zippo.

As the design phase for Zoo Interchange reconstruction advances, his Department of Transportation is simply refusing to do a transit alternatives analysis or to incorporate any transit components into the design. With the Zoo, County Grounds and higher education institutions all in the interchange area and Miller Park just a throw from the outfield away, this short-sightedness is almost beyond belief.

More evidence that the real issue in Wisconsin transportation funding isn't transportation. It's buying road builders and keeping them in the "D" column.

WisDOT kills worst Zoo Interchange design; bad ones remain

2009-02-05T18:18:00.001-08:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has eliminated from consideration the Zoo Interchange reconstruction alternative that would require the destruction of the most homes and businesses -- including a $10 million to $12 million building in the Honey Creek Corporate Center -- according to agency officials.

Instead, WisDOT has come up with a potential hybrid that calls for an eastbound diamond interchange, westbound access to I-94 via one-way service roads and a "Texas-U-Turn" at 76th Street. A Texas U-turn essentially forces a driver who wants to exit at one place -- say 84th Street -- to travel well past that to another exit point, such as 76th Street, then loop back on another road to 84th Street.

The hybrid would require the destruction of 13 homes on the south side of I-94 east of 88th Street, WisDOT officials told the Common Council's Steering and Rules Committee last week.

WisDOT still also is considering an alternative that would not require any buildings along the eastern leg to be razed, but that would rely on one-way service roads and a Texas U-turn that would require those drivers wanting to exit at 84th Street to travel to 76th Street before swinging back.

City engineer Jeff Polenske cautioned that while the option minimizes property impacts, it could have significant negative traffic impacts on North 76th Street.

All of the illustrations WisDOT presented to the committee showed the freeway expanded to eight lanes, though WisDOT official Donna Brown said six lane configurations still were under consideration.

Interestingly, when Ald. Robert Bauman asked about the eight-lane configuration, WisDOT consultant Brad Heimlich said he wanted to show city officials the "worst case scenario."

The number of lanes the department chooses would not affect the number of homes and businesses that would be destroyed, but the eight-lane version would be about 25 to 30 feet wider than the six-lane version, Heimlich said.

He also said that in the area between N. 76th St. and N. 84th St., the footprint of the freeway, including the Texas U-Turns, could be about double what it is now. The State Fair Park parking lot could be significantly smaller as a result of the project.

Brown ruled out an analysis of alternative transportation modes during the environmental impact study for the freeway reconstruction. She also said inclusion of transit components in the Zoo Interchange study could not be accomplished within the construction timeline Gov. Doyle set. That timeline, however, was entirely political. Doyle announced it at a press conference when Republican pressure to accelerate the Zoo Interchange project was shaping up to be a campaign issue in the 2006 race.

Aldermen made it clear they did not think any of their concerns about the potential loss of tax base, harm to the city or transportation alternatives would matter to WisDOT. Ald. Michael Murphy said bluntly that Milwaukee was "screwed."

Later in the meeting, Ald. Robert Bauman said that WisDOT really doesn't care what city officials think.

"They could care less what our opinion is," Ald. Robert Bauman said. "This is all a dog and pony show. They're required to come here, so you can check off 'talked to city council' on the check list of the draft environmental impact public participation."

Council President Willie Hines agreed. "It's clearly obvious that we do have to hear this," he said of WisDOT's presentation. "Some of us didn't want to, don't want to just play the game. It's not a game to us...We're beginning to question even more as to whether or not anyone's listening or whether or not anyone cares. That's kind of disturbing, very disturbing."

Traffic declining, freeways expanding

2009-01-29T03:12:00.000-08:00

Traffic in Orlando is declining, according to HNTB, which is profiting from designing unneeded freeway lanes in Wisconsin, where driving also has dropped. Meanwhile, Gov. Jim Doyle wants to allow the gas tax to increase without legislative votes and is proposing to waste stimulus money on the ill-considered plan to expand North-South I-94 (a project pumping millions into HNTB's coffers).

Oh, by coincidence, HNTB is a major contributor to Gov. Doyle's campaign and inauguration funds.

Government and firms that buy government at work.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Traffic continues to fall on greater Orlando toll roads -- yet another sign of the region's deepening economic crisis.

Tolls paid to drive on the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority's network of highways have dropped 8 percent in the past year, and agency managers do not expect a turnaround any time soon.

The authority, which operates 100 miles of toll roads, decided Monday to cut its budget by almost 11 percent to make ends meet. Even more reductions could be in store if traffic decreases further.

"Happy, happy, joy, joy," authority chairman Rich Crotty said sarcastically.

Traffic and revenue have been falling year over year since March. Crotty and agency analysts peg the drops more to job losses than gas prices, which peaked last year at more than $4 a gallon but have since fallen below $2. The jobless rate in greater Orlando, meanwhile, has steadily risen to 7.7 percent.

"It's the economy across the board, with an emphasis on unemployment," said Crotty, who is also Orange County's mayor.

People, he said, do not drive as much when they do not have a job. As proof, he pointed to a chart, compiled by traffic consultant HNTB, showing traffic consistently remaining below last year's numbers even as the price of gasoline fell to near $1.50 a gallon, before rising this month.

Stimulating us backwards in time

2009-01-16T03:33:00.000-08:00

It's hard to know if the House Dems are spiking their beverages with illicit drugs or really do believe that the 1950s were the golden days of America, but their stimulus package suggests that are delusional or delusionally nostalgic: highway, highway, highways.

It's if they believe that global warming is off the front pages so may not exist any more.

It's if they believe that oil prices are low right now, so the supply must be unending.

There is $30 billion for highway construction in the bill and $10 billion for transit. Here is what some other folks around the country are saying:

The Transport Politic:

We’re not particularly impressed; compared to $30 billion for highway construction, there is $10 billion for non-automobile uses here, and only $1 billion of that will go to New Start projects, $2 billion to modernization, and $1 billion to intercity rail. $6 billion will go to new or renovated equipment such as buses.

Why is this plan insufficient? For one, as the bill points out, there is a $50 billion backlog of repairs needed to be made to public transport, but only $2 billion is allocated for such investments. As we wrote early in the history of this blog, the number one need for transit in the United States is modernization of existing transit systems. New York’s Subway and Chicago’s L, among many others, desperately need to be rebuilt. This bill does not do much to help along that process.

Second, the bill does virtually nil for intercity rail, providing only $1.1 billion for Amtrak and state-based rail provision. The bill notes that the Northeast Corridor alone needs $10 billion in upgrades. How will this funding solve that problem, or tackle those of other corridors around the country? Where’s the money for high-speed rail operations?

Third, there’s only $1 billion set aside here for New Start grants. The fact of the matter is that the Second Avenue Subway’s First Phase alone will cost more than $4 billion. This money will do little to improve funding for transit agencies that are excited to get new rail and bus lines under construction.

And then there’s the $30 billion set aside for highways. Is this going to go towards more unnecessary roads? Did the dramatic reduction in traffic over the past eight months impress anyone in Congress? Or will this money go solely to needed repairs? This question has yet to be answered.

That said, there are possibilities for transit in other sections of the plan. $25 billion of the money to be redistributed to states for budget relief will go to paying for “essential services.” There doesn’t seem to be a reason that states couldn’t use that money for transit operations, which are facing record deficits around the country and which will not be able to take advantage of the $6 billion in buses this bill offers if they can’t hire drivers!

$31 billion is set aside to modernize public infrastructure with the goal of energy savings; there’s no reason that station and track improvements couldn’t fit in with this section of the bill.

But overall, the bill lacks any overriding ambition, and seems to be willing to provide only the modicum of funding with little attention to greater goals or even current needs. This is an early draft of legislation that still has a long way to go, so it may be too early to be making assumptions. But while this economic stimulus bill could be the foundation for a radical change in the way transportation is funded in the United States, what we’re getting here is nothing of the sort.

Greater Greater Washington:

House Democrats have released a draft of the federal stimulus package. Among the $275 billion in spending is $30 billion for highways and $10 billion for transit. That's still way too much highway money, but at least it's a ~~big~~ small step up from the existing status quo which gave ~~only 3% of federal money~~ 20% of federal transportation money to transit.

Most of the highway money will go to new sprawl-inducing lane miles. "In 2006, the Department of Transportation estimated $8.5 billion was needed to maintain current systems and $61.4 billion was needed to improve highways and bridges." And the plan's authors don't appear to have heard of induced demand, writing, "These projects create jobs in the short term while saving commuters time and money in the long term." Actually, since the 1950s we've learned that many highway project don't actually save time or money in the long term.

Design New Haven:

Unfortunately, according to the draft plan, the vast majority of the $40 billion in transportation funds would most likely go towards expanding superhighways in places like the deserts of Utah, not investing in the types of 21st-century infrastructure that can get the residents of the nation's major metropolitan areas to work efficiently, safely and without owning a car -- even though over 40% of New Haven residents commute by means other than private automobile. Despite all the evidence that transit-oriented development creates jobs by dramatically saving large numbers of people time and commuting expenses, the stimulus bill seems more like it is shaping up to be a recipe for oil company profits than for smarter growth in metropolitan areas like New Haven.

Bottom line is that it appears that Congress believes that highways should be expanded even as bridges across the country continue to catastrophically fail and crumble; even as families, children and senior citizens literally find it impossible to walk more than a couple of blocks in their own neighborhoods due to the lack of proper pedestrian facilities; and even as many major cities less than 30 miles apart - like Hartford, Waterbury and New Haven - continue to have absolutely no viable mass transportation connections.

A federal gas tax hike is recommended (again)

2009-01-04T04:17:00.000-08:00

A national commission is expected to recommend a 50% increase in the federal gasoline tax, according to the Associated Press.

A federal commission created by Congress to find a way to make up the growing revenue shortfall in the program that funds highway repairs and construction is talking about increasing federal gas and diesel taxes.

A roughly 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.

The 15-member National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing is the second group in a year to call for increasing the current 18.4 cents a gallon federal tax on gasoline and the 24.4 cents a gallon tax on diesel. State fuel taxes vary from state to state.

In a report expected in late January, members of the infrastructure financing commission say they will urge Congress to raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon and the diesel tax by about 12 cents to 15 cents a gallon. At the same time, the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation.

The commission will also recommend that states raise their fuel taxes and make greater use of toll roads and fees for rush-hour driving....

A study by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies estimated that the annual gap between revenues and the investment needed to improve highway and transit systems was about $105 billion in 2007, and will increase to $134 billion in 2017 under current trends.

Projected shortfalls in revenue led the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, in a report issued in January 2008, to call for an increase of as much as 40 cents a gallon in the gas tax, phased in over five years.

Highway maintenance would take a hit

2009-01-04T03:45:00.000-08:00

Funding for highway maintenance would be increased just 1% in 2010 and 2011, increasing available funding by a total of $5.6 million, under the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's budget request.

"Routine maintenance of the STH system is achieved primarily through contracts with each of the state’s 72 counties, WisDOT said in its request. "In general, program costs continue to increase even without increases in service levels. Annual adjustments in routine maintenance contracts for labor and equipment as well as the cost of salt are driving most of these increases. In addition, new lane miles and more traffic require additional resources."

The agency also raised the specter of service cuts if it does not get enough money, but did not suggest that it could reallocate resources within its requested $5.9 billion bienniel budget.

"If adequate funding is not provided, the program must prioritize its activities and then reduce or eliminate service and/or capital expenditures for repairing and replacing signs, repainting pavement markings, etc."

Gov. Doyle does a U-turn on gas tax indexing

2009-01-04T03:29:00.000-08:00

Gov. Doyle might have whiplash as a result of the sharp turn-around on gas-tax indexing: he was against it before he was for it.

Doyle told the Wisconsin State Journal last week that the state should reconsider its 2005 repeal -- which Doyle supported -- of the law that allowed the gas tax to increase automatically every year at the rate of inflation. (It's so inconvenient to make legislators actually vote on tax increases.)

From the story:

"The simple fact is that where Wisconsin went, where Republicans took us, is unsustainable for transportation (infrastructure), where you say, that's basically it on the gas tax, regardless of what the costs are and what the needs are," Doyle said in a year-end interview with the Wisconsin State Journal. "I think that indexing had served us pretty well for a long period of time."

Wisconsin's motor fuels tax is now 30.9 cents per gallon, which as of January made it second only to the 36-cent tax in Washington state, said Dale Knapp, research director for the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Wisconsin also adds 2 cents per gallon for an environmental clean-up fund...

Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the governor was going back on a change that created "greater accountability" for taxpayers by making lawmakers vote on each increase in the gas tax.

"Consumers have finally found some relief at the pump, and now the governor wants to increase their burden during these uncertain economic times," he said.

Spurred by conservative talk radio and bloggers, the movement to repeal the automatic increases took the Capitol by surprise three years ago, overcoming initial concerns from Doyle and the then Republican leadership of the Legislature.

Signing the repeal three years ago, Doyle said, "It's not appropriate to raise taxes every year automatically, without elected officials having to stand up and be accountable to the people who are paying taxes."

Sign on for a clean stimulus bill

2008-12-30T03:04:00.000-08:00

Bloomberg reports that most states plan to spend transportation money from the expected stimulus bill on roads and more roads.

While many states are keeping their project lists secret, plans that have surfaced show why environmentalists and some development experts say much of the stimulus spending may promote urban sprawl while scrimping on more green-friendly rail and mass transit.

“It’s a lot of more of the same,” said Robert Puentes, a metropolitan growth and development expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington who is tracking the legislation. “You build a lot of new highways, continue to decentralize” urban and suburban communities and “pull resources away from transit.”

There is something you can do to prevent this country from drowning in a muck of freshly-poured concrete -- sign on to the Friends of the Earth "Keep the Economic Stimus Plan Clean" petition. It's easy. Click here for details and to sign on.

Resolution would support I-94 civil rights complaint

2008-12-18T03:58:00.001-08:00

Ald. Robert Bauman this week introduced a resolution seeking Common Council support of the civil rights complaint the ACLU filed over the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's inadquate planning for and analysis of the planned North-South I-94 reconstruction and expansion project.

The resolution reads in part:

The Common Council finds that the City of Milwaukee and its residents and taxpayers would not benefit from – and would in fact be harmed by – WisDOT’s plans to add lanes to Interstate 94 south of the Mitchell Interchange, construct an interchange at Drexel Avenue and reduce interstate highway access at the 27th Street/Interstate 894 interchange...

The Common Council adopted...a resolution expressing the City’s opposition to the proposed reconstruction and expansion of Interstate 94 and its support for a new strategic approach to transportation investments in Southeastern Wisconsin; and...

In a recently-completed audit of the City’s residential street paving program, the City Comptroller found that over one-fifth of Milwaukee’s residential streets are in poor condition and that the cost of bringing all residential streets up to fair or good condition could be as much as $780 million over the next 25 years; andWhereas, It is fundamentally unjust for the federal governmental to saddle local property taxpayers with the burden of paying for repairs to existing local streets while at the same time funding the reconstruction and expansion of Interstate highways;

The City of Milwaukee supports the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin’s complaint against the Wisconsin Department of Transportation relating to the reconstruction and expansion of Interstate 94, which was filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation....

Good news: Drexel Ave. interchange likely dead

2008-12-18T03:29:00.000-08:00

The Drexel Ave. interchange, which was supposed to be part of the North-South I-94 reconstruction project, may well be dead, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

If that is true it is good news. Even the Wisconsin Department of Transportation says the interchange could well harm the city of Milwaukee. It's not a certainty that a stake has been driven through the heart of this particular bad idea, though. WisDOT has been pushing for the interchange and there is all that federal stimulus money allegedly on the way that could help pay for it.

Reports that Oak Creek (and neighboring Franklin) were reluctant to kick in for the project have been circulating for a while now. We asked WisDOT last week what would happen if the communities declined to share in the cost, but WisDOT has yet to respond. There is a clue in the JS story, though: "The DOT has said that if there is a commitment to the $7.6 million in local money, it would consider putting the interchange back into the project."

The apparent / maybe death of the interchange also boosts Milwaukee Ald. Robert Bauman's argument that local government should share in the costs of highway projects within their borders. It's a good way to measure just how badly a community really wants something -- is it willing to help pay for something that it is happy to take for free?

Frank Busalacchi: which one will show up today?

2008-12-18T03:13:00.000-08:00

The New York Times reports that Frank Busalacchi is supporting the "fix it first" ethose for any stimulus bill highway spending that may come along. Frank's endorsement of that very sane policy is a laugher, given his advocacy for new, bigger and totally unnecessary projects during his tenure as Wisconsin secretary of transportation.

Here are excerpts from a letter that Frank signed, along with many others, setting desireable criteria for infrastructure spending. The choice is ours: should we laugh or gag?

I. FIX: To immediately create jobs and stimulate economic growth we need to “fix it first,” that is, invest in the repair and maintenance of the country’s deteriorated bridges, roads, public transit, passenger & freight rail, electric grids and other essential infrastructure components that have been neglected for decades.

III. GREEN: Priority should be given to projects that foster energy independence, safeguard the environment, promote healthy & compact communities, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

V. COUNT: Funding must be set aside to measure and analyze the results of these federal investments and their outcomes: job creation, cost-effectiveness, greenhouse gas reductions, increased energy efficiency, etc.

ACCOUNTABILITY – NEW OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
If America is to remain economically competitive, we cannot afford “business as usual” when it comes to infrastructure investments. Therefore, a new federal oversight committee is required to both streamline the investment process and also establish accountability.

We propose creating a National Recovery and Renewal Council, comprised of representatives from federal, state, and city agencies, as well as the private sector. The Council would report directly to the White House, charged with eliminating the red tape in implementing projects, as well as developing criteria and accountability measures that will guarantee that America meets its infrastructure goals, from energy independence to reduced carbon emissions to increased mobility.

About that accountability and oversight? Frank was not so hot on it just last week. Just give us the money, he said. This is what he told the National Journal -- Transportation blog.

The quickest and fairest way to distribute stimulus funds for transportation projects would be through the existing federal formulas. Where formulas do not exist, it may be appropriate to distribute the funds to state departments of transportation based on the percentage of obligation authority provided to each state in the last federal transportation appropriations bill. These methods were proposed in the House and Senate stimulus bills. The state transportation departments are in the best position to administer the funds and to prioritize the projects that are in already their transportation plans.

1% boost requested for major highway projects

2008-12-16T03:07:00.000-08:00

Funding for major highway projects would increase $9.7 million over the next two years, under the State Department of Transportation's budget request.

The department also is seeking authority to circumvent the Transportation Projects Commission for many major highway projects.

Major highway funding would increase from $322.8 million this fiscal year to $326 million in 2010 and $329.3 million in 2011, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

A major highway project is defined in state law as a project that involves reconstructing or reconditioning an existing highway or constructing a new highway when total project cost exceeds $5 million and involves one or more of the following: 1) constructing a new highway 2.5 miles or more in length; 2) relocating 2.5 miles or more of an existing highway; 3) adding one or more lanes, 5 miles or more to an existing highway; or 4) improving 10 miles or more of an existing multi-lane divided highway to freeway standards.

The definition does not include freeway reconstruction or expansion in southeastern Wisconsin, which have their own statutory definition under state law.

WisDOT is seeking to change the definition of a major highway project. The new definition would, according to the LFB, (a) increase the minimum cost threshold for capacity expansion projects from $5,000,000 to $25,000,000; and (b) include any project that does not otherwise meet the capacity expansion thresholds in the definition of a major highway development project if the project has an estimated cost of at least $75,000,000.

Under the requested changes, the Department would not need to seek the approval of the Transportation Projects Commission prior to beginning an environmental impact statement (EIS) or environmental assessment (EA) on projects that do not meet the existing capacity expansion thresholds in the existing definition, but that may cost at least $75,000,000. For these projects, an EIS or EA would need to be completed to determine if the estimated cost exceeds $75,000,000.

Ald. Bauman calls for more local road aid

2008-12-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

Ald. Robert Bauman understands priorities.

Gov. Doyle ought to pay attention.

Bauman issued the following statement today:

Fixing local streets and roads would positively benefit many more Milwaukee and state residents than expanding I-94 during the rebuild between Milwaukee and the Illinois state line, so why does Governor Doyle have the I-94 project at the top of his list for federal infrastructure aid?

“He (Governor) obviously didn’t ask for input from anyone on the Common Council when he was drafting his list of projects,” said Ald. Robert J. Bauman, chair of the Common Council’s Public Works Committee.

“As a body we’re (Council) on record clearly stating that local street repair needs should come first, and that we should not be expanding highway capacity in southeast Wisconsin until we fix our existing roads, streets and bridges,” he said.

Today Governor Doyle released 22 pages of potential Wisconsin infrastructure projects to be considered for federal funding under the administration of President-elect Barack Obama. The president-elect has said he plans on making massive investments in improving the nation’s infrastructure, even dwarfing the 1950s projects that launched the federal highway system into the modern era.

The dire situation facing Milwaukee’s streets and bridges is outlined in a Comptroller’s Office audit report of the residential street paving program, which was released earlier this week. Ald. Bauman said one of the report’s key findings is that in order for the city to replace the roads identified as in need of “immediate replacement,” it would take 36 years to do so at the current rate of budgetary allocation for roadway replacement. The report states that 214 miles (approx. 20% of the city’s streets) are in “poor” condition and require “immediate replacement.”

Ald. Bauman said the audit report indicates “options” to eliminate the city’s street maintenance backlog involving recommended spending at levels of up to $40 million per year – dwarfing the approximate $6 million-plus the city has typically spent during the past several years. Also, he said the audit shows the replacement cycle has now narrowed to 106 years – down from 162 years as recently as 2005.

“We face huge challenges, and to put the expansion of I-94 at the top of the ‘needs’ list is, to me, a nod to the road builders and a slap to the average taxpayer in southeastern Wisconsin,” he said.

Freeways and funding -- guest post by Paul Trotter

2008-12-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

A few hours after one of our snow storms was over I came upon these fine examples of the public transportation available to us in Milwaukee County. As you can see, there is blatant disregard for those who need to or choose to take the bus. It is unconscionable that we ignore the poor and spend billions on making a few more lanes so that we can travel a little faster to and from Illinois. Perhaps the DOT's best efforts at recognizing the poor in our city are the Marquette Interchange murals depicting stuggles to navigate the underground railroad. The underground railroad was a path that carried American slaves to freedom in the 1800s. I challenge Mr. Busalacchi and Mr. Walker to find a means to transport our poor efficiently, reliably and safely to plentiful jobs and prosperity out of our segregated city. Our poor are trapped by your short sighted vision that relies on the automobile for transportation.

ACLU files civil rights complaint over I-94 project

2008-12-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

The American Civil Liberties Union filed with the US Department of Transportation Wednesday a civil rights complaint seeking to halt expansion of North-South I-94. The press release from ACLU is below. You can read the entire complaint here.

The ACLU of Wisconsin today requested a federal investigation of the Wisconsin Department ofTransportation for violating civil rights laws when it decided to expand I-94.

In a complaint filed with Offices for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, the ACLU objected to WisDOT’s plans to widen I-94, build a new interchange at Drexel Ave., and close much of the interchange at 27th St. and I-894.

TheACLU is requesting that the government investigate WisDOT, stop the widening of I-94, and prevent construction of the Drexel Interchange - especially if the 27th St. Interchange is closed.

“WisDOT’s own environmental impact statement shows that building the Drexel Interchange is likely to hurt development in the city of Milwaukee - the state’s only majority-minority city -while it helps development in non-diverse suburbs,” noted Karyn Rotker, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin.

Rotker added that the disparities will worsen with closure of the 27th St. Interchange. “Title VI of the Civil Rights Act makes it clear that agencies can’t take actions that have a discriminatory effect on communities of color - even if the discrimination isn’tintentional.”

There are similar problems with spending hundreds of millions of dollars to add lanes to I-94, added ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Chris Ahmuty. “WisDOT has said adding the lanes is going to have only a minimal effect on travel times - and that not adding lanes could increase the market for development closer to downtown Milwaukee, thus helping city residents,most of whom are persons of color.”

WisDOT, however, rejected that approach. The ACLU complaint also asserts that expanding highways without moving forward on public transportation projects has a discriminatory effect on communities of color, who are disproportionately dependent on public transit.

“In a time of limited resources, WisDOT needs to ensure that it isn’t increasing the disparities between those with access to cars and transit dependent persons. But that’s what this plan does. Instead, WisDOT needs to ensure that a fair share of the benefits of its transportation programs are going to communities of color - who willbe much more likely to benefit from increased transit access than from the bigger highway WisDOT wants to build.”

Marquette Interchange -- just pocket change

2008-11-29T03:36:00.000-08:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation's combined 2009-11 budget request for the North-South I-94 and Zoo Interchange reconstruction projects totals is almost as much as the entire $810 million cost of building the Marquette Interchange, records show.

The $766 million combined I-94/Zoo request -- which essentially are just start-up costs -- is a cool 95% of the Marquette price tag.

Get out your wallets, everybody. WisDOT is asking Wisconsin taxpayers to commit $195 million to the Zoo Interchange even though there is no design and no payment plan -- there is not even an environmental impact statement.

The money, WisDOT says, will be used "for design, real estate, and utilities," according to the budget request. "Design activities include the development of plans for anticipated improvements needed for traffic mitigation routes as well as formal plans for the first leg of the project once a preferred alternative has been selected. Utility work would include the relocation of electrical, water, sewer, and other utility lines needed to accommodate the reconstruction effort."

As for the North-South I-94 project, WisDOT is pushing forward with unneeded, unwanted freeway expansion in Milwaukee. The $571 million the department wants to spend on the project over the next two years includes $285 million in borrowing.

And remember the Hoan Bridge? WisDOT's records show it needs some fairly expensive work in the not-so-distant (2010 to 2013) future, and there has been much discussion about rebuilding it. The Hoan happens to not be mentioned at all in the 2009-11 budget request, setting taxpayers up for a really nasty surprise when they are asked in a few years to shell out for the continuing costs of the Zoo Interchange, I-94 North-South and the Hoan. These simultaneous projects will be more expensive than necessary because the state will be competing against itself for equipment and talent; they also will make getting around town via the freeway next to impossible because of traffic tie-ups and key interchanges.

WisDOT requests 3% transit aid hike

2008-11-20T03:30:00.000-08:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is requesting a 3% increase in transit aid for the next biennium, the largest it has sought in several years, but still a pretty cheesy increase compared to the new money WisDOT wants to spend on unneeded highway expansion in the area (more on this later).

WisDOT's request would increase Milwaukee County Transit System assistance by $1.6 million, to $67.3 million in FY10; and an additional $2 million in FY11.

In its request, WisDOT laid out its rationale:

With the high price of fuel, increasing highway congestion, and increasing environmental concerns, transit ridership in Wisconsin and the nation are at an all-time high. One notable exception is Milwaukee County which has cut service and increased fares. Even with record ridership, demand for transit services still outpaces availability as costs, mostly due to fuel costs, have increased at a much faster rate than general inflation and funding. Transit providers have been faced with reducing and discontinuing service, increasing fares, increasing local taxes, and, in many cases, have not been able to implement much-needed new services. The inability of funding to keep pace with costs has also prevented the establishment of new transit services in areas where they have not existed in the past, despite high demand. For these reasons, the requested percentage increase for transit operating aids is higher than what is being requested for most other programs.

In CY 08, the program provided an average of 36.5% of operating costs. While this represented a slight increase from 35.9% in CY 07, it has been decreasing steadily from 37.4% in CY 06, 38% in CY 05, and 39.2% in CY 04. In addition, these percentages do not take into consideration reductions in service, discontinued service, and increased local taxes that have resulted due to funding increases not keeping pace with costs.

Local roads will get worse under WisDOT budget proposal

2008-11-17T03:30:00.000-08:00

Expect more potholes in your future because the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is requesting a one percent increase in local road assistance for municipalities and counties.

One percent! That's a boost of $4.3 million statewide out of a requested $397.1 million increase in the state transportation budget. General Transportation Aid funding would be $413.8 million in FY10 and $418.0 million in FY11 for municipalities and counties to help pay for construction, maintenance and operations of local roads. The cost of the materials to build and maintain those roads, meanwhile, has soared.

The American Road & Transportation Builders Association said last month that "the cost of highway and street construction materials was up 22.2 percent in September 2008 compared to the same month last year. During the same time period, inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, was 4.9 percent. Over the last five years, between 2003 and 2008, the price of highway and street construction materials has risen 76.5 percent."

My oh my. That one percent increase in local aids WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi wants to dole out won't go very far for cash-strapped, levy-limited local units of government. Yet WisDOT is charging ahead with its foolish plans for unneeded, unwelcome freeway expansion in Milwaukee.

Way to set priorities, Mr. Busalacchi.

Gluttony on the roads

2008-11-14T03:36:00.000-08:00

Wow, the state is facing an estimated $5 billion deficit and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is seeking a 7.25%, or $397.1 million, budget increase over the next biennium, according to WisDOT's budget request. The agency budget would total $5.9 billion.

WisDOT also is projecting no increase in federal funding.

So who is picking up the tab for unneeded, unwanted freeway expansion? Wisconsin folk and, if WisDOT has its way, oil companies.

SEWRPC cowers, intimidated by the public

2008-10-08T16:43:00.001-07:00

Unbelievably craven.

That's our SEWRPC.

Every four years, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission must be recertified by the Federal Highway Administration. Four years ago, during the recertification process public hearing, SEWRPC was spanked repeatedly by public officials and regular citizens for its high-handed, conflict-ridden ways of doing business.

So how to respond? It's obvious! Get rid of the public hearing!

The public is invited to a recertification event on Oct. 22, but there will be no public hearing. There will be a dog and pony show, though.

The FHWA's Dwight McComb, a strong SEWRPC ally and a federal official that SEWRPC Executive Director Phil Evenson described as one of his agency's "best friends," said Wednesday that members of the public might be just too intimidated to testify in public, so were being given the opportunity to testify in private to a court reporter. Members of the public can also talk to ---SEWRPC officials!

He also said, though, that he did not know of any members of the public expressing an opinion one way or another about how the public participation portion of the recertification process should go, so how he came to the conclusion that members of the public may have been intimidated last time around is beyond me. He certainly didn't include it in the report he issued at the conclusion of that process.

McComb said officials were considering alternating public participation methods between the public hearing method and the whispered testimony to court reporters, so that a public heairng would be held only every eight years! When I asked him if this same alternating process would apply to similar recertification processes around the state, he said he did not know.

What?! People in other parts of the state don't have the same concerns about testifying in public? Or maybe it's really that other planning agencies aren't as worried about what other members of the public will say?

Oh, by the way, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will have a table at the SEWRPC recertification gladfest, as will the transit system.

CASH, along with a number of other groups, is urging members of the public to participate in the recertification process, despite its severe shortcomings.

Here is our action alert.

ACLU-WI ¤ CITIZENS ALLIED FOR SANE HIGHWAYS (CASH) ¤ GOOD JOBS AND LIVABLE NEIGHBORHOODS COALITION ¤ MIDWEST ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES ¤ SIERRA CLUB - GREAT WATERS GROUP

Make Your Voice Heard on Decisions Impacting Quality of Life, Mass Transit, Asthma Rates, Affordable Housing, Job Growth, and More

ACTION ALERT: On October 22, 2008, come join a coalition of individuals and groups to challenge the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission’s (SEWRPC) recertification as the recognized Metropolitan Planning Organization for the region.

"We said this four years ago, and unfortunately we have to say it again - SEWRPC hasn’t lived up to either its ethical or legal obligations to represent the interests of all residents of our community," said Karyn Rotker, Senior Staff Attorney for ACLU-WI.

Every four years, the federal government has to certify that a Metropolitan Planning Organization is following federal laws and requirements, including civil rights and environmental justice requirements. SEWRPC is up for recertification this year. The U.S. Department of Transportation will have a public meeting where YOU can provide written or spoken comments.

As the region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, SEWRPC makes recommendations about transportation planning. These transportation projects impact priorities for government funding, how healthy our air is, where housing is developed, job growth, the availability of mass transit, the supply of and potential movement of water outside the Great Lakes Basin, and much more. The agency, however, often has ignored the concerns of minority and low-income residents of Milwaukee. For example, SEWRPC has yet to conduct a regional housing study - something it promised in 2005 to do. It has denied requests from groups representing low income and minority communities to participate on advisory task forces. It rejected the requests of its own Environmental Justice Task Force to seek a diverse and inclusive pool of candidates to fill its Executive Director and Assistant Director positions.

WHAT: Public Meeting on SEWRPC’s Certification as Metro Planning Organization
WHERE: Downtown Transit Center, Harbor Lights Room, 909 E. Michigan Ave. Milwaukee
WHEN: October 22, 2008 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Jursik wants study of longer I-794

2008-10-06T04:41:00.000-07:00

You knew this one had to be coming. County Supervisor Patricia Jursik is calling on the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to study the possibility of ending I-794 at Ryan Road in Oak Creek.

Jursik made her request after the State Department of Transportation said lowering the Hoan Bridge and reducing I-794 to a four-lane boulevard could lead to billions in new development.

“We ask Transportation Secretary Busalacchi to spend another $175,000 to fund this study, the same amount he paid for the bridge-for-sale ad," she said in a press release. "In response to a request from South Milwaukee Mayor Tom Zepecki, my office asked the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) to develop the footprint for the extension of 794 to Ryan Road. I have received this map and now call on the Department of Transportation to discontinue studies on demolition of the bridge and instead begin to fund the completion of this South Shore asset.”

Hoan rehab: $100 million plus

2008-10-04T05:46:00.000-07:00

Redecking and painting the Hoan Bridge would cost more than $100 million, according to a State Department of Transportation issue paper.

Major work is needed, though, WisDOT said in a 2007 report.

"Delamination on many east and westbound units of the Hoan Bridge has already crossed or is nearing the threshold requiring deck replacement," WisDOT said in issue paper dated June 2007. "The entire structure also appears to be well beyond thresholds for chloride contamination that is evident by the delamination occurring on the underside of the deck."

Delamination basically is separation of the concrete from the supporting structure.

"If the deck is not replaced ride quality will continue to deteriorate and maintenance repairs will be frequent if not continuous," the paper said. "In addition, full depth features are likely to fall off the edge and bottom of the deck along with the edge of the parapets."

Deck replacement on the westbound portion of the bridge would cost an estimated $38.1 million; deck replacement on the eastbound portion would cost an estimated $37.1 million. Painting the bridge after the deck replacement would cost $28 million, according to the document.

Highway construction costs have risen significantly since the paper was issued, but it's not known yet what kind of impact the current economic crisis will have on future project costs.

"Funding for the Hoan Bridge Rehabilitation is critical since costs are significant," said the issue paper, obtained through an open records request. It is one of two documents released by the Department of Transportation regarding potential reconstruction of the bridge.

The paper said the deck replacements would be done in 2011 and 2012, which make the project concurrent with both the I-94 North-South reconstruction projection and the Zoo Interchange reconstruction project.

The paper is one of only two documents WisDOT released in response to request for all records related to the possible reconstruction or replacement of the Hoan Bridge. The other document released was a draft report by the HNTB consulting firm outlining an alternative plan to lower the bridge and replace I-794 with a four-lane boulevard.

Driving down again in July

2008-09-30T17:32:00.000-07:00

From Reuters -- is WisDOT listening?

Motorists on U.S. roads applied the brakes hard on driving when gasoline prices peaked over the summer at more than $4 per gallon, according to the latest government figures released on Tuesday.

Americans, she said, drove 9.6 billion fewer miles in July than they did a year earlier. Transit ridership, in contrast, was up 11%.

The 3.6 percent year-over-year decline in miles traveled on all roads in July cemented a downward trend begun nine months ago in response to rising pump prices and economic weakness.

While the June drop was 5 percent, the July drop was still sharp and may be more illustrative of consumer habits and concerns about the economy. July is a usually heavy driving period marked by traditional summer vacations and the Independence Day holiday.

"The decline means Americans are consuming less fuel and emitting less CO2 (tailpipe emissions), which is a positive development," Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said in an interview with Reuters. "But it is a challenge to how we fund transportation today."

The miles traveled figure is an informal economic reference for policymakers who sought to make the best of another bad number by touting rising transit figures. The drop in driving heightened concerns about how to pay for road and rail projects, since those employment-creating priorities are financed mainly by gasoline taxes.

That other bailout

2008-09-24T04:18:00.000-07:00

Congress this month bailed out the Federal Highway Trust Fund to the tune of $8 billion, putting a lot of road projects back on track. The funds were transferred from FHWA's administrative accounts to the Trust Fund.

The Bush administration opposed the rescue before it supported it.

From the Puget Sound Business Journal:

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters praised Congress for acting quickly "to protect states from the pain of a funding shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund."

But, she added, "the fundamental funding flaws that plague the nation's transportation system will continue to wreak havoc if left unfixed."

Bruce Josten, executive vice president of government affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, agreed, calling the transfer of funds a "short-term fix."

"Congress must develop a long-term solution when reauthorizing the surface transportation law next year," Josten said. "Every funding option must be on the table."

Federal gasoline taxes currently provide revenue for the fund. Gas tax receipts fell in recent months as Americans curtailed their driving in response to high prices at the pump.

So $700 billion or more for financial institutions and increased taxes, in one way or another, for highways. Something to look forward to.

Other states slowing down in light of federal funding problems

2008-09-10T04:35:00.000-07:00

Arizona is putting as much as $171 million in new federally-funded highway projects on hold because of the uncertainty that the federal funds will be available.

Arkansas is delaying taking bids on a $24 million project to rebuild an I-40 interchange for the same reason. According to KFSM-TV:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters says her agency would delay and even cut back payments for state road and bridge construction nationwide because the federal Highway Trust Fund had been depleted. The federal government typically covers 80% of the costs of a project on all highways.

Wisconsin seems ready to rush forward with its $1.9 billion North-South I-94 boondoggle. Who's going to foot the bill if the federal money isn't there?

The federal highway fund is broke

2008-09-07T04:58:00.001-07:00

The Federal Highway Trust Fund is officially broke. President Bush wants an $8 billion bailout, but that money won't last long.

Wisconsin wants to spend $1.9 billion on reconstructing and needlessly expanding North-South I-94. State records show that the overwhelming majority of citizens who participated in the public input process opposed the expansion, but the state pushed ahead with it anyway. State records also show that the public input process was a bit of a sham, and that a WisDOT was consultant was drafting the document giving the federal go-ahead for the project even before the second of two public comment periods began.

We now have a situation of insufficient need for an expanded freeway, coupled with insufficient funding and a basically fraudulent public participation process. So why is this project moving forward?

I-94: Approval doc drafted before citizen comment period began

2008-09-05T04:05:00.001-07:00

Highway officials were busy drafting the official document that would give the go-ahead to a $1.9 billion proposal to expand North-South I-94 even before the second public comment period on the proposal even began, state records show.

A WisDOT consultant sent a draft of the document, the Record of Decision, on March 26, one day after FHWA signed off on the Final Environmental Impact Statement and well in advance of the 30-day public comment period began April 5.

"Jay---attached is the signed FEIS cover sheet," consultant Charlie Webb, of CH2M Hill, wrote to WisDOT's Jay Waldschmidt. "The EIS will be sent to the Federal Register today for NOI publication on April 4. Comment period will end May 5. Also attached is the draft Record of Decision for your review."

NOI stands for "Notice of Intent."

It is unclear who actually wrote the draft. The properties box on the Word version document indicates it was created on March 24, just two days before it was sent to WisDOT by CH2M Hill.

From the draft:

The selected alternative is to widen I-94 to eight lanes in the study area (Safety and Design Improvements with Added Capacity Alternative). The selected alternative provides the best balance among sound engineering design, addressing long-term travel demand and safety, and minimizing overall social, economic, and natural resource impacts.

Selection was based on evaluation and consideration of all comments received during the public involvement process, public hearing testimony and other public comments received during the EIS availability period, comments received from state and federal review agencies, environmental and engineering factors, consistency with local and regional transportation/land use plans, and documentation on how the proposed improvements will address long-term traffic and safety needs.

The draft Record of Decision had blank pages where comments second public comment period could be listed. The draft then concluded:

Based on the analysis and evaluation documented in the EIS, and after careful consideration of all social, economic, and environmental factors, including comments received on the EIS, it is FHWA’s decision to adopt the selected alternative contained therein as the proposed action for this project.

How about a local share for the I-94 and the Zoo Interchange projects?

2008-09-03T04:39:00.001-07:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has irritated Waukesha County officials by insisting the county go halvesies on the projected $50 million cost of a bypass around the city, according to the JS.

Waukesha County officials object, and so much want to stay on the highway welfare rolls and contribute just 10% that they are completely dropping their bypass funding from the county's long-range capital plan.

The road project, highly desirable to the county as a supremely-discounted bargain, is completely undesirable when Waukesha must pay just half the actual cost. Still a bargain, but not quite what county officials had in mind.

What other highway projects would lose their luster if local units of government had to pay? Think Kenosha County would be so eager to destroy wetlands for I-94 interchange reconstruction if Kenosha County residents had to pick up half the cost? Do you think Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker would push freeways over transit if half the cost of rebuilding North-South I-94 in Milwaukee County appeared on county property tax bills?

Milwaukee Ald. Robert Bauman has long advocated that local governments share in the cost of highway projects now funded by the state. The Waukesha bypass reaction shows he's on to something. Kudos to WisDOT for insisting on a significant cost-share. Now the agency should expand that idea to other highway projects.

State mulls tearing down the Hoan bridge

2008-08-23T05:49:00.001-07:00

The State Department of Transportation is thinking about tearing down the Hoan Bridge and replacing rebuilding most of I-794 at street level, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Rehabbing the bridge may simply be too expensive, WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi said.

No timetables are set for the study's completion or when demolition of the bridge could begin, Busalacchi said. He declined to prove the exact cost of rebuilding the freeway.

No word on whether WisDOT plans to add bike lanes to the new freeway.

Don't count on $113 a barrel oil

2008-08-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

It may be nice to think that the slide in oil prices that dropped the price to $113 a barrel will keep on sliding downward.

Dream on.

The Energy Information Agency today said it expected oil prices to climb back to the $120 to $130 per barrel range for the rest of the year. Maybe.

From the agency's report, "This Week in Petroleum:"

While we are not quite as confident in forecasting the near-term path for oil prices as Michael Phelps might be about winning his next race, we do think that crude oil prices may settle in the $120 - $130 per barrel range for most of the remainder of the year, barring any additional major supply disruptions from hurricanes or other events such as the current conflict in Georgia. This is largely due to our projection that year-over-year declines in U.S. oil consumption will not be as large in the second half of the year, in part due to relatively weak consumption in the second half of last year and also to the perceived end of the upward surge in prices. Balancing out the forecasted decreases in U.S. consumption, we project relatively strong continued demand growth in non-OECD countries. Finally, as prices drop, Saudi Arabia may cut back on its recent increase in production, which could halt the most recent price decline. Of course, whether or not this scenario unfolds is anyone’s guess, but understanding the factors behind the increase and recent decline in oil prices is important in understanding what might come next in the prices we pay at the pump.

Meanwhile, we have a State Department of Transportation celebrating an $800 million freeway interchange that too many people can't afford to drive on because they can't afford the gas, and a transit system that very same WisDOT is watching wither and die. It just doesn't make sense.

More study needed on I-94 project, groups say

2008-08-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

More study is needed to determine whether additional lanes are needed on North-South I-94, according to a coalition of civil rights and environmental groups.

The study is needed because of the dramatic drop in driving that resulted from higher gas prices, attorney Dennis Grzezinski wrote on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation, Inc., 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Inc., Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc., and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People -Milwaukee Branch.

Grzezinski wrote:

The "need" for adding two highway lanes to the 1-94 North-South corridor has been premised solely on projections that future increases in vehicle miles traveled in the corridor will result in increased congestion during the morning and evening rush periods. It is that anticipated future increase in traffic which WisDOT and FHWA have asserted as the justification for needing to construct the additional highway lanes. However, if the increased future traffic volumes are not actually likely to materialize, there is no need to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars, and to incur the adverse environmental consequences, of constructing additional highway lanes in the next few years....

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and WisDOT projected gas prices rising 3% a year from $2.30 in 2005, Grzezinski wrote.

However, as our previous comments have noted, gasoline prices have not increased at 3% per year since 2005, but have increased far more than that. Local gasoline prices were approaching $3.00/gallon by June 2006, and were at $4.00/gallon and above by the date of the Record of Decision. They have ranged above and below the $4.00/gallon level since then. While increasing gas prices were mentioned in the FEIS and ROD, the agencies' environmental analysis does not indicate that there was any reconsideration of future traffic projections in light of this dramatic increase in the cost of fuel. Rather, the thrust of agency responses to comments regarding the dramatically increased gasoline prices has been that the future price estimates were reasonable, and by implication that the previous projections of future increases in highway traffic volumes remained valid. More recent developments have demonstrated that the assumptions which underlay SEWRPC's projections of ever-increasing traffic volumes are no longer applicable....

The Federal Highway Administration has both noted the dramatic decrease in driving and the related drop in gas tax revenue, Grzezinski said. Meanwhile, transit ridership is up, he said.

These developments, on their face, call into question the asserted need for constructing additional highway lanes along the 1-94 North-South corridor, purportedly to deal with future congestion problems projected to result from ever-increasing highway traffic volumes.

Each of the groups -- the ACLU, 1000 Friends, Midwest Environmental Advocates and the NAACP -- request that a supplemental environmental impact statement be prepared relating to the Project, and that a hard look be taken anew at whether or not there is a need to construct the additional highway lanes.

Hat tip: Michael Horne at Getting Frank.

No money for lights, but...

2008-08-11T18:18:00.001-07:00

The JS reports that the state does not have enough money to repair lights on its highways.

According to the story:

State transportation officials acknowledge the lack of lighting and say that the problem snowballed the past three or four years after budgets for state lighting projects shrunk or were wiped out completely.

Since 2004, less than $200,000 has been available for lighting projects in Milwaukee County, so the state fell behind in replacing lights. In 2006, the budget was cut entirely. The state had been meeting its mark of replacing lights every four years until 2005....

This year, DOT has allocated nearly $400,000 for lighting projects. That money will go to replace about 2,900 lights in Milwaukee County by the end of this year, Dirks said.
Transportation officials said certain areas of roadway are fixed immediately if there are burnouts. Lights along the Hoan Bridge, for example, are almost all lit.

Those that are waiting to be replaced are about a year or two overdue, Dirks said. Lights are usually replaced about every four years and then maintained in between if they break or malfunction because of weather or an accident.

And yet the state has billions to spend on unneeded freeway expansion?

Something is really, really wrong here.

More transit cuts requested

2008-08-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

Milwaukee County Transit Service would be wacked again under a 2009 budget request. More here.

A stunning drop in driving

2008-07-29T04:14:00.000-07:00

American drivers rolled through 9.6 billion miles less in May than a year earlier, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

That's a big drop.

"We have seen the longest decline in vehicular miles traveled since we started collecting this data," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters, quoted by CNN.

Peters said that in the first four months of this year, Americans traveled 40.5 billion miles less compared with the same period in 2007....Many of these commuters are flocking to trains, buses and bikes, or telecommuting from home.

Fewer miles and a surging demand for transit: That must be why our State Department of Transportation, governor and county executive want to build bigger, really expensive freeways that we can't afford to maintain while killing transit with a million tiny-to-medium-sized cuts.

The FHA said that driving in May experienced the third-largest monthly drop since the agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation that manages the nation's highways and bridges, began collecting data 66 years ago. It was the largest drop for any May, a month that usually sees driving increase due to the Memorial Day holiday, the agency said. Three of those largest monthly declines have occurred since December, as unusually high fuel prices take a toll on drivers.

Things fall apart...

2008-07-23T04:48:00.001-07:00

A bridge in Sturgeon Bay had to be shut down Monday because it is in such awful shape. Pieces of it are literally falling off to the ground or water below.

Another sign of the messed up transportation policies in this state -- there is money for unnecessary expansion of North-South I-94 and to rebuild the Zoo Interchange on an accelerated timeline, but the Wisconsin Department of Transportation lets a bridge slide into such disrepair that it becomes a hazard. From the Green Bay Gazette:

STURGEON BAY — Even before the Michigan Street Bridge was shut down Monday because of "severe structural deterioration," city and Door County officials were trying to figure out how to reopen the span.

That includes providing round-the-clock, on-site enforcement of weight limits if the state lifts its ban and reopens the bridge, Sturgeon Bay Police Chief Dan Trelka said.

"We'd put a city police officer or Door County sheriff's deputy at either end and visually monitor what crosses," Trelka said.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation shut down the bridge at 3 p.m. Monday as a result of deterioration observed during an inspection earlier this month, said Will Dorsey, operations manager for the state Department of Transportation office in Ashwaubenon.

Engineers were concerned about vehicles violating a 5-ton weight limit imposed several years ago to prolong the life of the bridge, Dorsey said.

"There were a number of vehicles well in excess of the 5-ton limit using the bridge," Dorsey said. "We've seen trailers, semis; and we are concerned for the safety of the traveling public."

With the shutdown of the Michigan Street span, all vehicle traffic was diverted to the Bayview Bridge that crosses on Wisconsin 42/57 on the east side of the city.

Michael Horne takes up the transportation fight

2008-07-23T04:35:00.001-07:00

Michael Horne of MilwaukeeWorld has started a new blog, Getting Frank, devoted to dissecting Frank Busalacchi and his transportation policies.

Definitely a "must" to bookmark and follow.

Senate struggles with Highway Trust Fund fix

2008-07-17T04:27:00.000-07:00

The US Senate is scrambling to shore up the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which is tanking because of drop of gas tax revenue attributable to a drop in driving.

The ethically-challenged Charles Rangel is trying to push through a plan to transfer $8 billion from general US Department of Transportation funds to the highway trust fund.

But, as noted in The Hill, "several attempts to get the $8 billion transfer passed into law in recent weeks, however, have failed."

Last week Senate appropriators easily passed a fiscal 2009 transportation and housing spending bill that included language preventing the federal highway account from going into debt next year.

Senate Appropriations Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the $8 billion transfer would prevent a 34 percent cut in spending for highway projects.

But any attempt to fix the shortfall through spending bills is unreliable. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said only two appropriations bills will be completed this year and the rest — including the transportation and housing bill — will be rolled into a continuing resolution lasting into next year.

And while an $8 billion transfer may be a (very) short-term fix, what comes next? Higher gas taxes for people already struggling to fill their tanks?

Gas prices dropped 1/10%! Back to our SUVs!

2008-07-17T04:03:00.000-07:00

Of course, prices are still well over $4 a gallon.

From the nicely-written This Week in Petroleum:

For the first time since June 23, the U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline did not increase; at 411.3 cents per gallon, the price dipped just a tenth of a cent. On a regional basis, prices were mixed, going up in the Midwest, Gulf Coast, and Rocky Mountains while dropping somewhat in the East Coast and West Coast. On the East Coast, the price dropped 0.8 cent to 407.1 cents per gallon. In the Midwest, the price rose 0.7 cent to 406.6 cents per gallon. Despite going up by 1.3 cents to 397.1 cents per gallon, the Gulf Coast price remained the lowest of any region and continued to be the only region where the price was under $4. For the second week in a row, the increase in the Rocky Mountains was the largest of any region, moving up 3.2 cents to 409.7 cents per gallon. The West Coast price dropped 2.5 cents to 441.5 cents per gallon. The average in California also went down, dropping 3 cents to 452 cents per gallon, still 136.2 cents higher than the price a year ago.

For the second week in a row, the U.S. average retail diesel price increased. The price strengthened 3.7 cents to another all-time high of 476.4 cents per gallon. The prices rose to new record highs in all five regions. The average price on the East Coast increased 3.3 cents to 482.2 cents per gallon. The price in the Midwest remained the lowest of any region at 469.8 cents per gallon, an increase of 4.4 cents. The average price in the Gulf Coast rose 4 cents to 473.7 cents per gallon. The Rocky Mountains had the largest rise of any region, jumping 4.6 cents to 471.8 cents per gallon. On the West Coast, the average price moved 2.3 cents higher to 490.9 cents per gallon. In California, the average price also increased, going up 2.5 cents to 502.6 cents per gallon.

Texas DOT: roads don't pay for themselves

2008-07-10T04:15:00.000-07:00

The Texas Department of Transportation knows that no road pays for itself through tolls or gas taxes.

That is no surprise, really -- traditionally road taxes are collected in one area of a state and spent in another. For example, gas taxes collected in Wausau are going to be thrown away on expanding North-South I-94 where expansion won't help traffic times.

What is very nice about TDOT's methodology is that it recognizes the cost of a highway over its lifetime -- including the cost of maintenance. From TDOT web site:

When is a given road actually “paid for?”

Just like your car, it never is. You may have paid the note, but maintenance and fuel costs go on as long as you own the vehicle. Once a road is built, maintenance and rehabilitation costs last its entire life, generally about 40 years.

The decision to build a road is a permanent commitment to the traveling public. Not only will a road be built, but it must also be routinely maintained and reconstructed when necessary, meaning no road is ever truly “paid for.”

Until recently, when TxDOT built or expanded a road, no methodology existed to determine the extent to which this work would be paid off through revenues.

The Asset Value Index, was developed to compare the full 40-year life-cycle costs to the revenues attributable to a given road corridor or section. The shorthand version calculates how much gasoline is consumed on a roadway and how much gas tax revenue that generates.

The Asset Value Index is the ratio of the total expected revenues divided by the total expected costs. If the ratio is 0.60, the road will produce revenues to meet 60 percent of its costs; it would be “paid for” only if the ratio were 1.00, when the revenues met 100 percent of costs. Another way of describing this is to do a “tax gap” analysis, which shows how much the state fuel tax would have to be on that given corridor for the ratio for revenues to match costs.

Applying this methodology, revealed that no road pays for itself in gas taxes and fees. For example, in Houston, the 15 miles of SH 99 from I-10 to US 290 will cost $1 billion to build and maintain over its lifetime, while only generating $162 million in gas taxes. That gives a tax gap ratio of .16, which means that the real gas tax rate people would need to pay on this segment of road to completely pay for it would be $2.22 per gallon. This is just one example, but there is not one road in Texas that pays for itself based on the tax system of today. Some roads pay for about half their true cost, but most roads we have analyzed pay for considerably less. To conclude, in the SH 99 example, since the traffic volume for that road doesn't generate enough fuel tax revenue to pay for it, revenues from other parts of the state must be used to build and maintain this corridor segment. The same is true across the state, meaning that, as revealed by the tax gap analysis, overall revenues are not sufficient to meet the state’s transportation needs.

This is miles ahead of our own Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which cites the $1.69 billion construction cost of rebuilding expanding that very same North-South I-94 as if that is the only cost associated with the project.

The Texas method is obviously more honest and transparent. We await WisDOT's adoption of it. And await and await and await....

This can't happen to us -- we're Americans!

2008-07-07T03:27:00.000-07:00

Reality check, folks. It is happening to us Americans. Wel have to stand in line with the rest of the world for dwindling natural resources.

From a new report by CIBC World Markets, a Canadian investment bank:

With the basic laws of supply and demand no longer operative in crude oil markets, we are compelled to once again raise our target prices for oil. We are lifting our target for West Texas Intermediate by $20 per barrel to an average price of $150 next year and by $50 per barrel to an average price of $200 per barrel by 2010. Under prevailing refinery margins, that should translate into a near-$7 per gallon pump price within two years, a 70% increase from today’s already record levels....

As gasoline prices climb inexorably, American driving habits are going to have to undergo a massive change, mimicking the driving habits long adopted by Europeans who have faced much higher gas prices. Average miles driven will likely fall by as much as 15%, while the market share of light trucks, SUVs and vans will be literally halved, reversing the trend of the last fifteen years. But the most fundamental, and unprecedented change will be in the number of vehicles on the road.

Over the next four years, we are likely to witness the greatest mass exodus of vehicles off America’s highways in history. By 2012, there should be some 10 million fewer vehicles on American roadways than there are today—a decline that dwarfs all previous adjustments including those during the two OPEC oil shocks. Many of those in the exit lane will be low income Americans from households earning less than $25,000 per year. Incredibly, over 10 million of those American households own more than one car.

Soon they won’t own any....

Drum roll, please.

More fundamentally, the freeways are about to getless congested. (Emphasis added) Not only will the number of vehicle registrations in the United States not grow over the next four years, but by 2012 there should be roughly 10 million fewer vehicles on the road in America than there are today. For the past half century, America has spent the bulk of its infrastructure money on building highways—only to see that soon, $7 per gallon gasoline prices will lead to fewer and fewer people using them.

Will somebody wake up State Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi and tell him? He is snoozing gently in the past.

Phil Evenson denies it...correctly

2008-07-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

SEWRPC Executive Director Phil Evenson dropped a line to flat out deny that he suggested using toll lanes to ease congestion as I, going off a JS story, said he did.

Evenson's right. He didn't say it. My apologies.

From his note:

The thrust of my too brief remarks at the WCAN (Waukesha County Action Network) event was on the eroding nature of the mainstay state funding source in Wisconsin for highways, local roads, and transit--the gas tax. All three systems will suffer if we don't begin to address this issue. My suggestion was to think about tolling the entire state freeway system whether congested or not. I did not advocate using tolls to lessen congestion, nor did I advocate the use of pricing to ensure congestion-free lanes, whether existing or proposed lanes. I did indicate that toll revenues could be a source of local funds for transit.

Video of the event is archived at Wisconsin Eye. Evenson's remarks did indeed focus solely on using road pricing as a way to fund transportation, including potentially transit. You can find the video here.

EPA, FHWA and I-94: part of a larger scandal?

2008-06-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

At first, the Federal Highway Administration's position on the global warming impacts of expanding North-South I-94 just seemed completely looney tunes. Now, though, with revelations in the New York Times this week that the White House just refused to open an email from the EPA concerning global warming, FHWA's dismissal of global warming concerns seems to transcend idiocy and elevate itself into a piece of a larger scandal.

Here is the relevant passage from the FHWA's record of decision approving WisDOT's proposal to expand the freeway even though people are driving less and expansion won't improve drive times in the vast majority of the project area.

Comment - "The report's analysis of greenhouse gas impacts is inadequate. The analysis is not much of an improvement over the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which did not mention greenhouse gases at all. The Final EIS talks about greenhouse gases, but doesn't say much useful and offers no mitigation plans." The FEIS violates NEPA requirements by not committing to mitigation of GHG emissions.

Response - FHWA's position is that greenhouse gas emissions/climate change is a global issue, the affected environment is the entire planet, and no individual project's emissions will be large enough to perceptibly impact global greenhouse gas emissions and/or climate. FHWA commits to mitigation measures when 1) the impacts for which the mitigation is proposed actually result from the proposed action, and 2) the proposed mitigation represents a reasonable public expenditure (23CFR 771.105(d)).

Because global climate change cannot be attributed to a specific project FHWA will not mitigate potential greenhouse gas emission impacts of the proposed action. (Emphasis added.)

To date, no national standards have been established regarding greenhouse gases, nor has the U.S. EPA established criteria or thresholds for greenhouse gas emissions. On April 2, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Massachusetts et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency et al. that the U.S. EPA does have authority under the Clean Air Act to establish motor vehicle emissions standards for carbon dioxide emissions. The U.S. EPA is currently determining the implications to national policies and programs as a result of the Supreme Court decision. However, the Court's decision did not have any direct implications on requirements for developing transportation projects.

FHWA is actively engaged with the U.S. DOT Center for Climate Change to develop strategies to reduce transportation's contribution to greenhouse gases — particularly carbon dioxide emissions — and to assess the risks to transportation systems and services from climate change. FHWA will continue to pursue these efforts as productive steps to address this important issue.

Well, hell. The Bushies in the Federal Highway Administration are saying that because the global warming impact of each individual highway project cannot be precisely measured, nothing will be done concerning any project to try to mitigate the impacts we know to exist.

Idiotic reasoning? You bet. (That idiocy, unfortunately, was warmly embraced by Secretary Frank Busalacchi and his merry minions at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Does Gov. Doyle really feel comfortable with his administration being so closely associated with George Bush's pseudo-science?) But it may be more than idiocy -- The New York Times reported this week that the Bush loyalists just ignored what they did not want to acknowledge.

From the Times:

The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said last week.

The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.

This week, more than six months later, the E.P.A. is set to respond to that order by releasing a watered-down version of the original proposal that offers no conclusion. Instead, the document reviews the legal and economic issues presented by declaring greenhouse gases a pollutant.

Over the past five days, the officials said, the White House successfully put pressure on the E.P.A. to eliminate large sections of the original analysis that supported regulation, including a finding that tough regulation of motor vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter....

In early December, the E.P.A.’s draft finding that greenhouse gases endanger the environment used Energy Department data from 2007 to conclude that it would be cost effective to require the nation’s motor vehicle fleet to average 37.7 miles per gallon in 2018, according to government officials familiar with the document.

About 10 days after the finding was left unopened by officials at the Office of Management and Budget, Congress passed and President Bush signed a new energy bill mandating an increase in average fuel-economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The day the law was signed, the E.P.A. administrator rejected the unanimous recommendation of his staff and denied California a waiver needed to regulate vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases in the state, saying the new law’s approach was preferable and climate change required global, not regional, solutions.

California’s regulations would have imposed tougher standards.

The Transportation Department made its own fuel-economy proposals public almost two months ago; they were based on the assumption that gasoline would range from $2.26 per gallon in 2016 to $2.51 per gallon in 2030, and set a maximum average standard of 35 miles per gallon in 2020.... (This delusion about gas prices is in contrast to WisDOT's, where folks believe that gasoline will be $2.51 a gallon this year.)

The House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, led by Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, has been seeking the discarded E.P.A. finding on the dangers of climate change.

After reading it last week, Mr. Markey’s office sent a letter to Mr. Bush saying, “E.P.A. Administrator Stephen Johnson determined that man-made global warming is unequivocal, the evidence is compelling and robust, and the administration must act to prevent harm rather than wait for harm to occur.”

Simultaneously, Mr. Waxman’s committee is weighing its response to the White House’s refusal to turn over subpoenaed documents relating to the E.P.A.’s handling of recent climate-change and air-pollution decisions. The White House, which has turned over other material to the committee, last week asserted a claim of executive privilege over the remaining documents.

Did EPA ever suggest specific steps to mitigate greenhouse gas impacts from highway projects? Did the agency recommend a new emphasis on transit? We don't know, because Bush is hiding records.

It is absolutely clear, though, that the US DOT and its Federal Highway Administration is dancing around the real EPA assertions that greenhouse gases pose a threat and should be controlled. Surely the actions of the Bush administration should compel WisDOT to take a new look at the record of decision.

It's just too bad that WisDOT leadership has climbed into bed with Bush's charlatans and pulled the blankets high and tight over their collective heads.

Congestion relief for wealthy, Evenson advocates

2008-06-27T05:43:00.000-07:00

Highway planning according to SEWRPC chief Phil Evenson: People of means should be able to buy their way out of congestion while everyone else breathes car exhaust.

Evenson proposed this week that drivers who can afford to pay tolls to drive in less congested lanes should be allowed to do so.

“What’s wrong with a premium charge for a premium ride?” Evenson said during a forum on transportation funding sponsored, according to the JS.

Where to start...

Well, for one thing, SEWRPC and the highway happy planners at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation keep insisting that easing congestion is essential for a strong economy. But here comes Evenson, completely disowning overall congestion relief. He's now willing to provide better traffic movement only to those who can pay more for it.

SEWRPC has long dismissed concerns that adding highway lanes will increase air pollution because there will be more cars on the road. SEWRPC has argued repeatedly that cars moving at faster speeds are less polluting than cars stuck in stop and go traffic. Under Evenson's proposal, though, many people would still be stuck in traffic. The freeway would be wider, more people would be on it, but traffic jams in a majority of lanes could actually be worse. Even under SEWRPC's convoluted logic on pollution, air pollution could well be worse than it otherwise would be.

How high would the tolls have to be to cover the cost of building and maintaining the extra lanes for rich people? Or would the average Wisconsin driver, who can't afford to drive in the rich people's lanes, have to pay to build them?

What happens if too many people want to drive in that lane? Do we build yet another rich people's traffic lane, or do we convert a regular traffic lane to a rich person's lane, thereby increasing congestion in the regular people's lane?

Evenson's proposal does nothing to address the negative aspects of freeway construction -- the noise, dirt. loss of green space, loss of wetlands, loss of flood plain, loss of tax base, etc. The negative impacts of SEWRPC's existing freeway expansion plan is visited mostly on City of Milwaukee residents -- Evenson's proposal for rich people's traffic lanes likely would also most negatively affect city residents. At least he's consistent on some things.

And, as a commenter on Jim Rowen's blog points out, Evenson's proposal conveniently overlooks the fact that people are driving less.

Evenson's proposal benefits a few people with adequate disposable income who experience a few minutes of delay in their drives to the suburbs. The costs are borne by everyone else.

And global warming impacts? Shhhh. SEWRPC doesn't like to talk about that.

Sounds like the type of SEWRPC plan we have come to expect.

Dem leadership holds fast on transit funding

2008-06-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

A key House committee refused to raid the transit fund for the money to build more highways, as the Bush administration wanted. Unfortunately, there is still not enough money in the transit fund to meet this country's needs.

From CQ Politics:

House Panel Approves Transportation-Housing Spending

The chairman of the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee on Friday said the projected shortfall of the federal Highway Trust Fund is not his panel’s responsibility to fix.

“This shortfall is not of this committee’s making,” said John W. Olver , D-Mass.

Both the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office have projected the trust fund will run up to a $3.7 billion deficit in fiscal 2009. The panel rejected requests from the Bush administration to borrow $3.2 billion from the mass transit fund to make up for the difference.

The subcommittee approved a $108.3 billion appropriations bill with about $55 billion in discretionary spending for transportation, housing and other independent agencies such as the Washington-area Metro system. The bill would appropriate $66.7 billion for transportation and $41.5 billion for housing.

Keeping with the guarantees in the 2005 highway law, the panel provided $40.2 billion for highways and $10.3 billion for public transit services. That number includes $1.8 billion for new commuter transit lines.

Amtrak received $1.5 billion, including $114 million additional funds for back pay to union employees who worked without a pay increase for eight years. That’s significantly more than the president’s $800 million request.

Driving drops again -- let's build bigger freeways

2008-06-19T04:34:00.000-07:00

Will the Wisconsin Department of Transportation please wake up?

From today's USA Today:

Americans drove 30 billion fewer miles from November through April than during the same period in 2006-07, the biggest such drop since the Iranian revolution led to gasoline supply shortages in 1979-80.

That's a lot of miles undriven.

We already knew that expanding North-South I-94 won't improve driving speeds along most of the route. We know that WisDOT's reconstruction plan for the freeway will cost $1.9 billion and the state hasn't a clue how to pay for it.

Now we know that Americans are seriously cutting back on their driving, which not only makes freeway expansion a bit more silly, but also a bit less affordable because less driving means less money in state and federal highway funds.

So will WisDOT wake up?

Not likely. It is resting so comfortably on that pillow stuffed with our tax dollars.

Living near freeways makes allergies worse

2008-06-17T04:27:00.000-07:00

From the Boston Globe:

BOTTOM LINE: Children who live close to a major road and are therefore exposed to traffic-related air pollution have an increased risk of allergies, eczema, and asthma, said Heinrich.

CAUTIONS: Other factors, like socioeconomic status, also contribute to the development of allergies, and though the study accounted for these, we cannot conclusively say that traffic pollution alone is the cause for higher allergy risk.

WHAT'S NEXT: The researchers plan to follow the children until age 10 or longer to see the effects of age and any family moves.

Frank Busalacchi's response misses the truth

2008-06-12T03:50:00.001-07:00

Does WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi truly not understand his own department and its workings or is he a flat-out liar? Top city officials wrote to Busalacchi to advocate the $200 million budgeted for expanding North-South I-94 be used for transit instead.

Frank responded with a letter that contained a couple of whoppers. One response Busalacchi makes contradicts itself entirely within two short sentences. Busalacchi first summarized a point in the city's letter, then stepped immediately in to Delusion Land:

The FEIS acknowledges that freeway expansion in most sections of the I-94 North-South corridor would result in little or no changes in drive times

This is correct. The expansion is absolutely necessary to maintain little or no change in drive times; without expansion, driving conditions will be much worse.

Yup. Frank believes both that freeway expansion won't help drive times and that it is absolutely necessary or conditions will get much worse. He really should give up smokin' those exhaust pipes.

Here is what WisDOT's own Environmental Impact Statement says about what the expansion would accomplish.

The Safety and Design Improvements with Added Capacity Alternative would decrease travel times on SB I-94 during the evening rush hour by over 10 minutes between Howard Avenue and College Avenue in 2035, compared to the Safety and Design Improvements Alternative. Travel times would not vary by as much south of College Avenue. In Racine and Kenosha Counties, there would be little difference in travel times between the two alternatives.

The EIS also said that in Racine and Kenosha counties, "existing travel times within the corridor are not currently encumbered by congestion -- reductions in travel time will be minimal."

Maybe Frank should actually read the report before he embarrasses himself, his agency and Gov. Doyle again.

And WisDOT won't rethink a thing

2008-06-11T04:26:00.000-07:00

WisDOT is beginning to look just a little bit silly in its refusal to take into consideration any new inconvenient fact that might suggest altermatives to highway-building. Here's the latest from the Washington Post:

The average price of a gallon of gasoline nationally is now almost a dollar higher than it was a year ago, according to the Energy Department. And with crude oil trading at more than $134 a barrel yesterday, more gasoline price increases are probably in the pipeline as refiners and retailers attempt to pass crude oil costs along to motorists, industry analysts warn.

"The fear here is that we've crossed a Rubicon," said John Townsend, a spokesman for AAA. "Normally, prices plateau after Memorial Day . . . But I don't think we're going to get much relief this summer."

In a society nurtured on cheap gasoline, the high fuel prices are having disparate effects: the end of free pizza deliveries at major franchises, a plunge in the sales of sport-utility vehicles, a steep drop in the price of houses that are far from jobs or mass transit.

Federal officials have also reported the first decline in miles driven on U.S. roads since 1979, business at roadside convenience stores has slowed, and the tourism industry is bracing for a downturn this summer. Nationwide, about 8 percent of Americans say they have changed their commuting patterns and are taking public transportation, according to a survey conducted by NPD Group, a market research firm. The same share of respondents said they would vacation closer to home this summer because of rising gas prices.

California making improvements where they matter

2008-06-02T04:43:00.000-07:00

While the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is looking to throw a couple hundred million away on widening a freeway for no discernible purpose, California is giving up battling a lawsuit and is going to spend money on improvements that actually help people.

The state is going to spend up to $2 billion to make improvements to accommodate people with handicaps.

What a concept.

California's work includes, according to the San Diego Union:

Building about 10,000 new curb ramps.
Improving about 50,000 existing curb ramps to meet recent changes in design requirements.
Rebuilding a “considerable percentage” of the approximately 2,500 miles of sidewalk under Caltrans jurisdiction.
Rebuilding pavement at crosswalks for a “considerable percentage” of the approximately 15,000 state highway intersections and installing audible crossing signals for the visually impaired.

It can be so very refreshing to reach out to people beyond the road-builder campaign donor crowd. WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi ought to try it sometime.

Wonder just how compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act WisDOT is?

The contortionist logic

2008-06-01T03:56:00.000-07:00

The JS editorial board continues to push freeway expansion on North-South I-94, with only a slight nod to a crucial fact.

Opponents of the widening - such as Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett - argue that widening the roadway would not significantly ease travel times and that the money for expanding the roadway could be better used for mass transit alternatives. Those are legitimate concerns, especially with the rise in gas prices, and certainly the state could push harder for mass transit and the KRM.

Widening the freeway won't do what the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has for years said it will do. It will not improve traffic flow in Racine and Kenosha Counties. Maybe the JS editorial board thinks spending $200 million for something that doesn't work is a bargain. In support of its argument it cites an outdated SEWRPC study that already has been shown to be grossly inaccurate and that is contradicted by WisDOT's finding that freeway expansion won't do much for traffic flow.

Maybe we can sell the Board a $50,000 Hummer convertible. Like WisDOT's freeway to "modernize" the freeway without lane expansion, it's bigger than anyone really needs and really environmentally unfriendly. For an extra $10,000 the editorial board can get an Hummer convertible. Board members can roll around town with the wind blowing through their hair and the sun in their faces.

But wait. Turns out that the convertible roof doesn't open.

Will the editorial board still buy it? Probably not. No one in their right minds would pay extra for something knowing that it won't work.

Then why is it so damned willing to spend $200 million for freeway expansion that won't work? We are guessing it has something to do with that freeway subsidy from the federal government. The editorial board is bravely endorsing spending someone else's money.

Hey, gov! Now what?

2008-05-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

When Gov. Jim Doyle announced that the state would accelerate the construction scheduled for the Zoo Interchange, this is the JS reported his reasoning:

Another factor was the state's financial picture, Doyle said. Instead of choosing between roads and school spending, the state's fiscal outlook is healthy enough to handle the road work without sacrificing other programs, the governor said.

OK, now the budget isn't healthy any more. The state can't afford the project, and neither can the federal Highway Trust Fund.

Why is this project still on the fast track?

The Zoo Interchange meeting

2008-05-23T04:37:00.001-07:00

There are seven conceptual alternatives for the Zoo Interchange that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is rolling out to the public, but it's likely that four of them are already really dead. Those four -- rebuild the interchange just as it is or three different versions of making spot improvements -- would not remove left side exit and entrance ramps. which WisDOT has said over and over and over again that it would like to do.

The three remaining versions of the reconstruction project do not call for lane expansion, but do call for room for additional lanes sometime in the undefined future. WisDOT says lanes won't be added unless some future study calls for that. Since additional lanes already are proposed for I-894 as part of the North-South I-94 project, one might suspect that the call for additional lanes is not so very far away.

The three most likely options have different impacts, ranging from the potential destruction of the Boy Scout headquarters and a fire station on S. 84th St., to chomping away at the Honey Creek Corporate Center near State Fair Park, to relocation of major We Energies infrastructure, to razing a varying number of homes.

WisDOT had big maps showing all the alternatives at the public meeting at State Fair Park Wednesday night, and the agency is working to make .pdf files small enough to post on the Internet without choking the average home computer upon viewing or download, according to a representative. The specific impacts are not shown -- there are no Xs or dots where houses would come down. That is because, the rep said, the reconstruction plans are still in progress and specific addresses designated for destruction are not known.

Thanks to WisDOT staff for their professionalism and courtesy. It is still a bad idea, however, to invest so heavily in single transportation mode while requiring one community to bear the bulk of the burden of the negative impacts of the project.

Holy project creep, batman!

2008-05-20T04:28:00.001-07:00

WisDOT did it again. The Zoo Interchange project, with no apparent reason, suddenly is larger than it was a few days ago.

The project area originally extended from 76th St. on the east, 116th St. on the west, the Union Pacific Railroad south of Greenfield Ave. on the south, and Center St. on the north. Now, magically, it extends from N. 70th St. to N. 124th St., and from W. Burleigh St. to W. Lincoln Ave.

It's the same kind of back door project expansion WisDOT did with the North-South I-94 project. Hey, what a coincidence!

WisDOT also publicly and earnestly and repeatedly announced that its goal was to maintain the current horizontal footprint of the interchange. Yeah, OK, but now it is talking expanding service roads and tearing down 20 homes and maybe another several commercial buildings, according to the JS.

WisDOT says it will pay fair price for any homes or businesses it destroys.

And yet it says it can't afford to deal with invasive plants -- even those it is required by law to remove -- on its properties. Something doesn't add up here.

Road builders lose $103 million, now $77 million ahead

2008-05-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

Figure this one out. State transportation spending already got a 15% budget boost ($350 million) in the 2007-09 budget. When the legislature met to fix the budget shortfall, it approved an additional $180 million for WisDOT.

Gov. Doyle, claiming the mantle of fiscal responsibility, is going to take $103 million from WisDOT to help cover the state's deficit, according to Doyle Budget Director Dave Schmiedicke via the JS.

If math hasn't changed since yesterday, $180 million - $103 million = $77 million.

Yowza. The state's still broke, but WisDOT's richer.

Deadline for comments on North-South I-94 project is approaching

2008-05-02T05:04:00.000-07:00

The deadline for comments on the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the proposed North-South I-94 reconstruction and expansion project is May 5. As you know all, there were numerous flaws and efficiencies in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The FEIS addresses some of the flaws, ignores others and has some new ones all its own. We hope you will take the time to submit comments in opposition to freeway expansion in Milwaukee.

Comments can be sent via e-mail to dotsefreeways94nsc@dot.state.wi.us, phone (262) 548-8721 or fax (262) 548-5662.

(Public comments on the draft document, for the most part, were ignored by the State Department of Transportation. Some 64% of people weighing in on the issue opposed the eight-lane expansion configuration still endorsed by WisDOT; 98% opposed the 27^th St. access (and lack of it) that WisDOT is proposing for Milwaukee.)

We have requested that that WisDOT extend the comment deadline because until April 23, 19 days into the 30-day comment period, the agency’s web site for the project failed even to mention the existence of the comment period. Information about it was posted only after CASH brought the omission to WisDOT’s attention.

We subsequently requested the extension. We just do not think it unreasonable that the department give full notice of a 30-day comment period on its major communications vehicle for the project. Information about the comment period for the DEIS was posted there, and a reasonable person certainly would expect to be able to find similar information comment period for the final document.

WisDOT, though, is arguing that the official notice of the comment period was published in the Federal Register, and that information also was included in newspaper ads and on 13,000 postcards the agency sent out.

Dealing with these things in order:

The Federal Register is not a very good public outreach tool, to say the least. The Federal Register is a dense, difficult publication and is not widely read by the general public.
The contention that adequate notice can be given through newspaper ads when newspaper readership is in rapid decline is, like WisDOT’s transportation priorities, stuck somewhere in the rapidly receding past.
13,000 postcards is not anywhere near enough to provide notice all of those who might wish to comment on the FEIS.

The FEIS is, with appendixes and notes, well over 400 pages long. Some highlights and lowlights are provided below. You can read the entire report at http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/d2/i94/eis.htm

Expanding the freeway will not improve travel times in Kenosha and Racine counties beyond the improvements that would be realized through reconstruction with design improvements but without full expansion. According to the EIS:

The Safety and Design Improvements with Added Capacity Alternative would decrease travel times on SB I-94 during the evening rush hour by over 10 minutes between Howard Avenue and College Avenue in 2035, compared to the Safety and Design Improvements Alternative. Travel times would not vary by as much south of College Avenue. In Racine and Kenosha Counties, there would be little difference in travel times between the two alternatives.

WisDOT estimates that expansion costs account for $200 million of the $1.9 billion total project price tag.

The language in the Final EIS is the first time that WisDOT has acknowledged that expansion won’t help traffic in the majority of the project area. Unfortunately, our friends in the media haven’t reported this.

The report’s analysis of greenhouse gas impacts is inadequate. The analysis is not much of an improvement over the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which did not mention greenhouse gases at all. The final EIS talks about greenhouse gases, but doesn’t say much useful and offers no mitigation plans. From the final EIS:

WisDOT is an active partner on the Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming, providing input as part of the Transportation Work Group. The work group is considering policy recommendations, including adopting California emission standards, using low carbon fuels, and reducing VMT through land use planning and implementation of public transit.

***

WisDOT will continue to participate in statewide initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases, monitor the development of additional findings, and minimize impacts of projects to the greatest practical extent allowed in its stated mission: to develop and operate a safe and efficient transportation system (WisDOT, 2004).

The plan does not include adequate plans for mitigating wetland loss in the affected watersheds: The US Environmental Protection Agency, in a letter to WisDOT, said that “If impacts to the seven acres of ADID wetlands (wetlands that generally are not suitable to be filled) are unavoidable and must be filled, at a minimum ratio of 2:1 of acres restored to acres lost, 14 additional acres of compensatory mitigation must be found. It is absolutely critical that these 14 acres contribute to restoring wetlands in or next to primary environmental corridors of the Des Plaines and / or Root Rivers, and to continue the water quality functions of wetlands for this regions.”

EPA also said that another 73.5 acres of new wetlands will be needed to compensate for the loss of other wetlands due to the freeway project. “The wetlands need to be provided for in one or more of the project’s watersheds,” the agency said.

WisDOT indicated it is most likely to locate its wetland compensatory acreage in Walworth County, well outside the Des Plaines, Root River, Oak Creek and Kinnickinnic watersheds, those inside the project area. WisDOT said it has been unable to thus far find suitable compensatory land in the relevant watersheds.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement acknowledges that more wetlands will be destroyed or degraded than previously stated. From the study:

In addition to the 53 to 56 acres of anticipated direct wetland impacts of the Build Alternatives, remaining adjacent wetlands could be exposed to further degradation. Degradation can occur from stormwater runoff and increased vulnerability to aggressive, non-native species repopulating degraded wetlands. This degradation contributes to poor floristic quality of disturbed wetlands and reduced functional value.

It is likely there will be the potential for additional wetland loss and degradation associated with planned developments and development that is potentially included from new interchange access in Milwaukee County or improved mobility in the study area.

The FEIS also includes a table – not included in the draft document – detailing another 42-plus acres of wetlands that likely will be lost to other WisDOT projects in the area.

WisDOT acknowledges in the FEIS that more floodplains will be destroyed than previously reported. Again, from the study:

About 17 acres of floodplain fringe area would be filled by either of the Build Alternatives. The potential for cumulative floodplain filling, associated with planned developments that are potentially induced from new interchange access in Milwaukee County or improved mobility in the study area, is likely. For example, the Environmental Assessment prepared for the interchange reconstruction projects in Kenosha and Racine Counties estimated a loss of more than 30 acres of floodplains. In addition to the loss of flood control functions, the cumulative impact of floodplain filling from the I-94 north-south corridor and secondary development results in reduced natural habitat available to wildlife in the area.

The study says that WisDOT is not allowed to identify funding sources for the project. “Wisconsin law prevents the current legislature from committing future legislatures to a particular course of action; therefore, the specific source of funds for completing the project cannot be identified at this time,” the EIS said.

That statement is just silly. WisDOT has every right – and a fiduciary obligation – to figure out how this project can be paid for and to make recommendations for doing that. WisDOT is not the legislature and it can never adopt a budget. It sure as heck should be telling us how much more in gas taxes it will need and what debt service burden state residents will be shouldering to pay for a freeway expansion that won’t improve travel times in most of the project area.

The study’s proposal for dealing with invasive plant species is inadequate in light of WisDOT’s own history dealing with invasives. “Linear corridors, such as highways, can foster the movement of invasive plant species. WisDOT will work with DNR during the design phase to develop and assess the feasibility of measures to minimize the spread of invasive species,” the EIS said.

WisDOT, however, stopped making serious efforts to control invasive species several years ago because, it said, there wasn’t enough money. WisDOT shifted that particular burden to private property owners and local units of government. You can more at http://www.milwaukeerising.net/IssuesFreeway54.htm#Invasive

The study fails to adequately address flooding and runoff issues. WisDOT is proposing a massive increase in impervious surface, especially in Milwaukee County. In addition, the agency is proposing to bring the expanded freeway closer to homes and businesses and to increase the slope of the freeway in some areas so that it drains better.

From the report:

County	No-Build\Existing	Safety and Design Improvementsa	Safety and Design Improvements with Added Capacitya
Lake	16 acres	16 acres	18 acres
Kenosha	292 acres	292 acres	341 acres
Racine	305 acres	305 acres	352 acres
Milwaukee	237 acres	308 acres	355 acres
TOTAL	850 acres	921 acres	1,066 acres

The expansion alternative in short, means impervious surface increase of two acres, or 13%, in Lake County; 49 acres, or 17%, in Kenosha County; 47 acres, or 15%, in Racine County; and 118 acres, or 50%, in Milwaukee County.

WisDOT offers no specific mitigation plans to reduce flooding problems for homeowners and business operators. Instead, it says it is meeting with other agencies on these issues.

The study acknowledges that areas adversely affected by increased noise levels attributable to the expanded freeway would not qualify for soundwalls, according to the report. Conversely, the visual blight of sound walls would be constructed in about a dozen areas where they do not now exist.

The FEIS ignores the reality of gas prices. WisDOT contends that people who say the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission’s 2035 regional transportation and traffic forecasts are wrong are wrong themselves.

SEWRPC projected 2035 gas prices at the 2005 equivalent of $2.30 per gallon, which many people found somewhat comical. WisDOT says, though, that SEWRPC projected a 3% gasoline inflation rate, which would mean gas prices of $5.60 per gallon in 2035 (and still the equivalent of $2.30 in 2005.

If SEWRPC’s 3% inflation projection were accurate, the gallon of gasoline that cost $2.30 in 2005 would cost $2.51 today. WisDOT itself, though, said in the FEIS that the actual average gas price in the Milwaukee area on Jan. 30 was $2.98, according to milwaukeegasprices.com. We checked on April 28 and the average price for unleaded was $3.75, according to the same web site.

The study says that WisDOT contributes $100 million annually to transit programs statewide. The figure is meant to refute the contention that the state does not do enough to fund mass transit and should put more resources there.

WisDOT’s own budget figures show that while the state will indeed spend $292 million in the 2007-09 biennium on transit assistance, it will spend more almost twice that amount -- $577 million – on debt service. Most of that debt, it is safe to assume, was incurred for highway projects.

The state will spend another $395 million on Southeastern Wisconsin freeway projects. Yup, that’s right. The state will spend $100 million more on Milwaukee-area freeways than it will on transit throughout the state.

It will spend a total of $2.4 billion on major highway projects and rehabilitation statewide during 2007-09.

WisDOT does not address the numerous transit cuts that have occurred in Milwaukee County over the past several years due to the lack of funding.

The FEIS drops the offensive argument than minorities will benefit from the project because North-South I-94 connects Milwaukee and Chicago, two minority-majority communities. While the agency highlighted text it added to the Final EIS, it does not show in any way what text it dropped. You have to know that it was in the draft to know it was dropped from the Final EIS.

The study dismisses EPA concerns over air quality modeling. The EPA said that the air modeling WisDOT used was “not consistent with current academic literature and other published guidance.” WisDOT rejected the suggestion of other methodologies.

There are other flaws uncorrected from the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. We have previously stated most of these, but some have been updated.

WisDOT’s $1.9 billion cost estimate for the project includes a 3% annual inflation adjustment. Based on recent history, this is unrealistically low. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association said that the cost of highway and street construction materials rose 12.8 percent from March 2007 to March 2008. “Over the last five years, between 2003 and 2008, the price of highway and street construction materials rose 52 percent,” ARBTA said.

The traffic and pollution impact estimates included in the report are fiction. Those impacts are based on expansion of transit options to the extent recommended in SEWRPC’s 2035 regional transportation plan. That plan proposes a near doubling of transit service in southeastern Wisconsin by the year 2035 and calls for a significant increase in state funding to support expanded transit. The problem, of course, is that there are neither plans nor funds to implement the plan’s transit recommendations. WisDOT needs to incorporate its transit plans into the DEIS or prepare new impact estimates for the I-94 proposal based on the most likely transit scenarios, not the most optimistic ones.

WisDOT’s plan does not consider the induced demand generated by an expanded freeway.

The plan puts a disproportionate burden on the city of Milwaukee and its residents. WisDOT acknowledges that construction of an interchange in Oak Creek may have negative impacts on efforts to redevelop the 27^th St. business corridor on the south side of Milwaukee and may negatively affect older business corridors in general.

The FEIS does not include available documentation regarding work commuting patterns of residents living in predominantly low-income and minority neighborhoods in the project area, which would shed substantial light on the issues of who benefits from the expansion proposal and who does not.

The FEIS discusses the state’s contributions to transit systems, but does not directly address how this massive project would affect future transit funding. WisDOT’s decision to fund freeway construction instead of transit disproportionately affects low-income and minority populations that are more reliant on transit. SEWRPC, in the 2035 regional transportation plan, said significant additional funding would be needed to implement and maintain its transit recommendations including “an annual 4 to 5 percent increase” in state funding. WisDOT notes that it is not its responsibility to coordinate transit systems in the region. It does not discuss whether it has any responsibility to provide a balanced transportation system.

The FEIS, although it indicates that negative health impacts may be attributable to vehicle emissions, does not include adequate protections for students and staff at schools near the Interstate. Numerous studies show that traffic-generated particulates and pollution have adverse affects on health, particularly among children. A recent study shows that students attending schools within 500 meters of a freeway can suffer permanent lung damage. In Milwaukee, schools within 500 meters of the North-South freeway within the project area include Cooper, Garland, Lowell and Whittier elementary schools; Ronald Wilson Reagan College Preparatory High School, IDEAL Charter School and Professional Learning Institute at the Sholes Educational Complex; St. Roman Parish; and Salam School.

The FEIS fails to analyze the potential environmental and economic impacts of alternative fuels most likely to be adopted in the future.

The project would have potentially unacceptable negative impacts on many threatened and endangered plant and animal species, and the FEIS does not contain adequate mitigation plans.

The FEIS does not analyze or discuss potential light pollution from the project. This is a significant omission because homes and businesses – particularly those in Milwaukee -- would be nearer to the freeway.

The FEIS does not adequately analyze impacts of the project on traffic speeds and traffic volumes on adjacent streets. The report, for example, lists eight streets that may see a 5,000+ increase in traffic volume during project construction. There are other streets and neighborhoods, however, that will be significantly affected by detoured traffic. While they may not see 5,000-vehicle increases, they also may be built to handle a much smaller volume of traffic than the streets listed. Smaller traffic increases on those streets would still have extremely negative consequences. The overall traffic impact analysis is lacking in substance and does not adequately explain the completed project’s potential impacts on local-street volumes and safety, or on neighborhood environs.

The FEIS is silent on the impact of oil prices on construction costs, and is generally silent on the impact of oil prices on how much people drive, although it does say SEWRPC will analyze the impact on driving of $4 per gallon gasoline.

Great timing, Frank

2008-04-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Wisconsin Department of Transporation is proposing to spend hundreds of millions on an unfunded, unneeded freeway expansion projects while accelerating the Zoo Interchange reconstruction project for purely political purposes.

The Federal Highway Trust Fund is going broke, and here's how WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi assesses the state's transporation founding outlook, according to the JS.

"If Congress does not address the revenue shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund, my state's funding, assuming no corrective action, will drop by nearly $100 million in 2009," he said.

Oh, yeah. Let's spend that money we don't have and pretend the bill is never going to come due.

Great MilwaukeeWorld post

2008-04-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

Michael Horne at MilwaukeeWorld has a great post on the Federal Highway Trust Fund's looming deficit, federal desires to raid transit money to pay for highways, bad faith dealings by WisDOT, and more.

It's a good read.

Transit Riders Union and School of Urban Planning Working Together

2008-04-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

From our friends at the Milwaukee Transit Riders Union:

The Milwaukee Transit Riders Union will be hosting a presentation and open house organized by students from the School of Urban Planning at UWM this Saturday,
April 26. The Transit Riders Union is functioning as a client for a transit visioning and planning project at the school. The students will be presenting the results of their project as well as gathering public input. All interested in the future of public transit in our area are encouraged to attend.

The presentation and open house will occur during the Transit Riders Union meeting this Saturday, at 11:15 am, at Brewing Grounds for Change Coffeehouse. Agendas will be available before the meeting.

Brewing Grounds is located at 2008 N. Farwell on Milwaukee's East Side. It is located on rt. 30, is one block east of rt. 15, and 3 blocks south of rt. 21.

The I-94 expansion scam

2008-04-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

Expanding North-South I-94 won't improve traffice speeds in Racine or Kenosha Counties. May do something for one-way drivers in Milwaukee County 28 years from now, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. More here.

Highway builders hate McCain's gas tax holiday idea

2008-04-17T04:23:00.000-07:00

Don't count on Republican presidential candidate John McCain's call for a gas tax moratorium to go anywhere real quick. The highway builders hate it, and transit folks aren't wild about it, either.

"This proposal would have devastating impacts upon the federal-aid highway and transit programs, sharply reducing funding available to states and jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide," said John Horsely, director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. "Such a move would be short-sighted and damaging to our nation's economy, while providing little relief to America's drivers."

AASHTO estimates that for the average motorists, driving approximately 12,000 miles per year, the savings would amount to roughly $28, less than the cost of a half tank of gasoline.

Meanwhile, the American Public Transit Association said much the same thing.

Now is the time for leadership on transportation issues, not pandering to voters with an alleged “quick fix” to the economy through the suspension of federal gas taxes through the summer months. With gas prices at an all time high, it is an easy thing to suggest the removal of the gas tax. However, stating that the suspension of gas taxes from Memorial Day to Labor Day ostensibly to help our economy hides the real truth -- that America’s transportation is intertwined with our high standard of living and prosperity. To cut back transportation infrastructure investment endangers, not boosts, our economy, our jobs and our way of life.