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WISDOT Prioritizes Public Transportation, Shortchanges Crumbling Infrastructure, A Model for Transparency

(Madison, WI) A new study of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) wish list, recently submitted to Congress for funding under a new economic recovery package, suggests that Wisconsin’s current project list both prioritizes projects that can help Wisconsin to address our biggest transportation problems, but also undermines efforts to repair and modernize our deteriorating infrastructure and reduce U.S. dependence on oil.  WISDOT is a model nationally for transparency and providing taxpayers with detailed information about its proposal. 

The study also shows that President-elect Obama’s stated intention to invest in a modernized infrastructure that will create jobs and build a clean, smarter economy for the 21st century could be undermined if the Wisconsin DOT spends highway stimulus funds the way it has suggested in its wish list to Congress.

“We applaud WISDOT for its transparency and for prioritizing public transportation projects which can reduce our dependence on oil,” said Bruce Speight at Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG).  “But, we can’t afford to waste precious resources on new highways at the expense of ready-to-go projects to repair and maintain existing roads and bridges.  We can both create jobs and rebuild our economy in the short term in a way that helps to solve our long-term energy challenges.”

The new report finds that 43% of Wisconsin’s transportation stimulus proposal is for public transportation projects, including the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee and Dane County commuter rail projects, intercity high speed rail, and upgrades to existing systems.  But, of the nearly $3.5 billion proposed for roads and bridges, 86% is for new capacity while only 14% is for repair and maintenance of existing roads and bridges. 

“Any stimulus package should provide a fair share for local roads,” said Rick Stadelman, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Towns Association.  “Priorities should include maintaining existing highway systems including local roads and bridges, over creating new highway capacity.   Of the over 110,000 existing highway miles, over 90,000 are local roads maintained by counties, towns, villages and cities.”

“Fixing aging bridges and speeding up road maintenance is a faster way to create jobs and stimulate the economy than building more highway capacity,” continued Speight.  “It makes no sense to build new roads that increase our addiction to oil”

The report documents why it is critically important how stimulus infrastructure money is spent. Misguided transportation polices of the past have contributed to many of America’s most pressing problems. Each year the average American living in an urban area spends 38 hours – nearly a full work week – stuck in traffic delays. Transportation has become the second biggest expense for the average household – even more than health care and just behind housing costs.  Our transportation system is the chief source of the nation's oil dependency. And vehicles are the biggest end-user source of global warming pollution, contributing to a third of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.

The 19-state study examines available state Department of Transportation wish lists sent to Congress as part of the development of the next economic recovery package. The 19 state transportation lists for “ready-to-go” projects indicate that:

·        Despite increasing transit ridership nationwide, on average, the states would spend only seventeen percent of funds on public transit or intercity rail projects. Seven of the sixteen states would allocate 1 percent or less to transit or intercity rail, including four that would allocate nothing at all.

·        In spite of hundreds of billions of dollars in backlogged maintenance and repair for crumbling infrastructure, more than half of transportation funds would flow to highway projects to build new or wider highways. A third of states would spend less than a quarter of road funds to protect and restore existing bridges and roads.

·        Most states have not disclosed their transportation wish lists for public scrutiny, leaving most citizens in the dark about how their tax dollars might be spent.

The report calls on Congress, the Obama Administration, and state leaders to apply the following principles to the writing and implementation of the next federal economic recovery legislation: (1) Highways should receive no more funds than the combined total for public transit, intercity rail, and bicycle and pedestrian projects; (2) Any road funds should go first to maintenance and repair of structurally deficient bridges and roads, not new highways or lanes; (3) Public transportation funds should include support for operations so agencies can accommodate rising demand. (4) Surface Transportation Program highway funds should be distributed as under current law so that a portion of resources flow directly to metropolitan areas that know best about which local projects are needed; (5) All states, cities, and agencies should publicly disclose the stimulus lists they have submitted; (6) Direct recipients of stimulus funds should report on how money was spent and any transportation spending that it displaced.

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WISPIRG is a statewide non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization that stands up to powerful interests.