Posted on 04/08/2021 1:43:35 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
GREENVILLE (NBC26) — A recent report gave Wisconsin a D+ grade when it came to quality of roads, but some are hopeful the governor's roads budget will continue the path to fixing what officials call "decades of neglect" to the state's transportation system.
Gov. Tony Evers and Craig Thompson, Department of Transportation secretary-designee, stopped along County Road CB in Greenville Wednesday on "pothole patrol" to discuss the governor's "Badger Bounceback Budget Investments" for local roads and highways.
"We have an important budget in from of us right now and the money that the state of Wisconsin is looking to share with the municipalities that are doing the hard work is really, really important," Evers said.
His 2021-23 proposed state budget includes nearly $2 billion for highway rehabilitation, over $565 million for highway development and $941 million in transportation aid for counties and municipalities.
Thompson said the state DOT was able to work on 375 construction projects throughout Wisconsin last season, which didn't stop because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said cities and counties can apply for transportation aid through a $75 million supplement program. Thompson said the state received over $1 billion in applications last time.
"We know there's more need out there than we have money, but this is just continuing the progress we made from the last budget. The last budget was a tremendous start and we just need to keep at it," Thompson said. "We’re hopeful that what the governor proposed this time around with the supplement program and increase in local aid - we’ve got Highway 15 bypass that’s going to be moving forward, Interstate 41 - all of those things will help.”
This funding comes after the American Society of Civil Engineers released its 2021 report card, which gave Wisconsin roads a D+.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbc26.com ...
PING!
They would have to give Illinois roads a “Z” then
Wisconsin has a transportation system? I thought everybody there got around on ATVs and off-road vehicles, because roads are impossible to maintain when constantly being blown full of snowdrifts from the endless blizzards that occur year around. After all, they lie only about 12 miles from the North Pole, and there is nothing in between except a barbed wire fence.
“Decades of neglect”? The Dems howled at Walker for repaving I45 and the interchanges around Milwaukee to the Airport. They forced him to halt before it was finished and demanded he fix the rest of the State’s roads first. But sopped him when he attempted it.
Then they cheated (like the Nov 2020 election) to get him out of office as he was the 2nd most hated Republican after DJT.
When they held their 2020 convention, they shut down all road construction in 5 counties for months before it because they did want out of state Dems to think harshly abut the state of Wisconsin’s road system; all torn up road hazard warnings, flags, direction signs were removed.
Under the previous Dem governor Doyal, they built million dollar traffic circle at hundreds of intersections some less than 1/4 mile apart rather than install unsightly traffic lights for $100K.
Now they want to rewrite history while raising taxes to put more money in Union and Highway Engineers pockets; how many boondoggles and traffic monstrosities will they create this time?
We don’t need any stinking roads with the Great Lakes permanently frozen over; the huge herbs of Woolly Mammoths would just destroy any puny roads. But hunting is terrific except for those pesky Homotheriums and Smilodons ...
Let’s see how far they can get with 6% of the infrastructure money bath. They will need more, because they will waste 100% of that 6% on graft, fraud, gold plated offices, and international travel via private jets to the south of France for Climate Change conferences that supply escorts. How do I know this? The final travesty will be worse, much worse, count on it!
Do they ever use the money they claim is for fixing the roads to fix roads? All that tax money disappears into the black hole of political payback to cronies and donors. The roads still suck, and politicians continue to use that as an excuse to raise taxes.
how much goes into highway/bridge maintenance from gasoline taxes?
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