Short-term, Wisconsin's roads and road budgets are a mess.
Long-term - - expect more of the same.
So while right-wing WI GOP Gov. and road-builders'-enabler-at-all-costs Scott Walker is just trying to keep the crumbling and under-funded transportation budget patched through the 2018 election, let's take a deeper view here.
So, yes, it's no secret that Wisconsin's rutted roads are crumbling (second-worst in the nation).
And, yes, there's been much reporting of late about how Walker plans to address some of the issues by delaying completing one Milwaukee-area mega-project - - the Zoo Interchange (producing a temporary savings of $292 million).
But remember:
When Walker was Milwaukee County Executive in 2003 - - and with his first (and unsuccessful) run for Governor not too far in the future but with messages being sent to the road-builder lobby - - Walker cast a key vote 19 more miles of costly new lanes in Milwaukee County that neither the Milwaukee City Council or Milwaukee County Board supported.
Which would run the total projected cost - - much of which is at the heart of today's dilemmas - - to $6.23 billion.
Details about all that, here.
And how many of you recall that as Walker set the current transportation mess into motion his only worry was that recommending the spending of $6.23 billion down the road might be insufficient!
* Note that the Zoo Interchange project represents a mere 20% or so at $1.7 billion of the massive Southeastern Wisconsin Freeway [free?] reconstruction plan, at a projected cost in 2003 dollars of $6.23 million (full description as recommended by the regional planning commission, here).
* That regional plan Walker said might need even more elements calls for adding 127 mile lanes to the existing 270 which stretch across seven counties - - a 47% increase in lane miles - - and is the major reason that transportation needs statewide, from local repairs to additional new projects to transit systems ignored, are chronically underfunded and will continue that way for years unless the entire transportation system is redefined.
Which is unlikely.
So, more math:
* The $6.3 billion regional plan began with the Marquette Interchange reconstruction and expansion - - completed at a cost of $800 million.
* $1.7 billion is committed to the Zoo - - and now with delays projected.
* $1.65 billion is committed to I-94 north/south from Milwaukee to tie Illinois state line - - with long-running delays that are the source of GOP Racine County State Rep. and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos' continuing meltdown.
* The $1 billion stretch of I-94 East/West connecting the Zoo and Marquette Interchanges is stalled as much for a lack of cash on hand and intense local objections and geographical/construction complications.
So in rough round numbers, we're looking at $5+ billion spent or committed - - or about 80% of the estimated revenues needed for all the SE WI segments - - though the dollars to complete them are not in hand and new state revenues or Trump infrastructure contributions may or may not appear.
Which leaves several huge SE regional segments in the original plan unfunded.
They are components of a multi-county project which for years we have been told is one integrated program where segments connect and prop each other up to make the entire machine move traffic with only modest improvements in congestion (note also that no new transit dollars which could also reduce traffic congestion are included as the concrete-only segments get funded), including:
* I-43 south from Milwaukee, across Waukesha County and across Walworth County, to the Illinois state line.
* I 43 north from Milwaukee, across Ozaukee County, to the Sheboygan County line.
* I-94 west from the Zoo Interchange, across Waukesha County, to the Jefferson County line.
New lanes. Wider ramps. Property to be acquired - - all of which costs money.
Anyone think all that work can be done for the roughly uncommitted $1.2 billion of the original $6.3 regional price tag for segments' not yet budgeted?
And remember - - there are multiple transportation needs statewide, from big projects to local pothole repairs - - that have to be addressed far from the SE Wisconsin seven county extravaganza.
Walker and his road-builder friends and Legislative enablers began to leave the bills for future generations when they recommended 127 more lanes and reconstruction work on the entire SE Wisconsin big highway grid.
Politically they should be made to own it, but you know that the rest of us and our children and their children will end up covering the tab they ran up long after Walker has left the scene for an ambassadorship or Deputy Secretary of Something or a right-wing think tank chair or rightist advocacy group's soft landing.
Long-term - - expect more of the same.
So while right-wing WI GOP Gov. and road-builders'-enabler-at-all-costs Scott Walker is just trying to keep the crumbling and under-funded transportation budget patched through the 2018 election, let's take a deeper view here.
So, yes, it's no secret that Wisconsin's rutted roads are crumbling (second-worst in the nation).
And, yes, there's been much reporting of late about how Walker plans to address some of the issues by delaying completing one Milwaukee-area mega-project - - the Zoo Interchange (producing a temporary savings of $292 million).
But remember:
When Walker was Milwaukee County Executive in 2003 - - and with his first (and unsuccessful) run for Governor not too far in the future but with messages being sent to the road-builder lobby - - Walker cast a key vote 19 more miles of costly new lanes in Milwaukee County that neither the Milwaukee City Council or Milwaukee County Board supported.
Which would run the total projected cost - - much of which is at the heart of today's dilemmas - - to $6.23 billion.
Details about all that, here.
And how many of you recall that as Walker set the current transportation mess into motion his only worry was that recommending the spending of $6.23 billion down the road might be insufficient!
“I believe that you have to have … a transportation plan that meets our needs,” said Walker, adding that SEWRPC’s $6.2 billion plan may not be foresighted enough.Some key numbers, as we move along:
* Note that the Zoo Interchange project represents a mere 20% or so at $1.7 billion of the massive Southeastern Wisconsin Freeway [free?] reconstruction plan, at a projected cost in 2003 dollars of $6.23 million (full description as recommended by the regional planning commission, here).
* That regional plan Walker said might need even more elements calls for adding 127 mile lanes to the existing 270 which stretch across seven counties - - a 47% increase in lane miles - - and is the major reason that transportation needs statewide, from local repairs to additional new projects to transit systems ignored, are chronically underfunded and will continue that way for years unless the entire transportation system is redefined.
Which is unlikely.
So, more math:
* The $6.3 billion regional plan began with the Marquette Interchange reconstruction and expansion - - completed at a cost of $800 million.
* $1.7 billion is committed to the Zoo - - and now with delays projected.
* $1.65 billion is committed to I-94 north/south from Milwaukee to tie Illinois state line - - with long-running delays that are the source of GOP Racine County State Rep. and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos' continuing meltdown.
* The $1 billion stretch of I-94 East/West connecting the Zoo and Marquette Interchanges is stalled as much for a lack of cash on hand and intense local objections and geographical/construction complications.
So in rough round numbers, we're looking at $5+ billion spent or committed - - or about 80% of the estimated revenues needed for all the SE WI segments - - though the dollars to complete them are not in hand and new state revenues or Trump infrastructure contributions may or may not appear.
Which leaves several huge SE regional segments in the original plan unfunded.
They are components of a multi-county project which for years we have been told is one integrated program where segments connect and prop each other up to make the entire machine move traffic with only modest improvements in congestion (note also that no new transit dollars which could also reduce traffic congestion are included as the concrete-only segments get funded), including:
* I-43 south from Milwaukee, across Waukesha County and across Walworth County, to the Illinois state line.
* I 43 north from Milwaukee, across Ozaukee County, to the Sheboygan County line.
* I-94 west from the Zoo Interchange, across Waukesha County, to the Jefferson County line.
New lanes. Wider ramps. Property to be acquired - - all of which costs money.
Anyone think all that work can be done for the roughly uncommitted $1.2 billion of the original $6.3 regional price tag for segments' not yet budgeted?
And remember - - there are multiple transportation needs statewide, from big projects to local pothole repairs - - that have to be addressed far from the SE Wisconsin seven county extravaganza.
Walker and his road-builder friends and Legislative enablers began to leave the bills for future generations when they recommended 127 more lanes and reconstruction work on the entire SE Wisconsin big highway grid.
Politically they should be made to own it, but you know that the rest of us and our children and their children will end up covering the tab they ran up long after Walker has left the scene for an ambassadorship or Deputy Secretary of Something or a right-wing think tank chair or rightist advocacy group's soft landing.
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