Federal
highway funds face huge shortfalls
Will money be there for Milwaukee freeway
projects?
March
12, 2007 -- The federal government is faces huge
highway and transit funding shortfalls just as Gov. Doyle
is pushing billions of dollars in Milwaukee freeway projects
that traditionally would receive significant funding from
the federal pot.
Federal
funds available to maintain and improve the nation's highways
and transit systems face a shortfall averaging $177
billion per year over the next 10 years, according
to the Transportation Research Board, which is part of
the National Academies.
Doyle: committing the state to billions in
spending with uncertain revenue
"Based
on current Federal agency revenue projections, the HTF
(Highway Trust Fund) Highway Account will have insufficient
balances by 2009 to sustain the authorized program level,"
according Board's report,
"Future Financing Options to Meet Highway and Transit
Needs."
"The shortfall problem accelerates after 2009 assuming
that at least modestly growing program levels are desired
in the next authorization period to meet growing needs,"
the report said.
Doyle
is recommending spending $115 million on
southeastern
Wisconsin freeway reconstruction projects over the next
two years. Some $91 million would be used to start reconstruction
work on North-South I-94; the remaining $24 million would
be used for studies related to the proposed reconstruction
of the Zoo Interchange, which Doyle wants to accelerate.
WisDOT
has estimated that the North-South project alone could
cost $1.6 billion.
Doyle's
proposal is heavily dependent on federal funding, according
to an analysis by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Of the
$115 million he is proposing for the two projects, $24
million -- about 21% of the total -- would come from federal
sources.
Milwaukee-area
freeway projects would gobble up two-thirds of the entire
anticipated increase in federal aids for 2007-09, according
to the LFB report.
Neither
Doyle nor Secretary of Transportation Frank Busalacchi
have proposed a full funding plan for either the North-South
project or the Zoo Interchange reconstruction project.
His proposal to start funding I-94 reconstruction comes
before environmental or engineering studies are completed
and before the cost of the project is known.
Printer-friendly
version
WisDOT
eyes park land, parkway for freeway construction
Feb.
26, 2007 -- More than 150,000 square feet of
Falk Park and the Root River Parkway could be lost or
negatively affected due to the North-South I-94 reconstruction
project, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Design
options for a potential full interchange at I-94 and S.
27th St. and I-94 and Drexel Ave. in Oak Creek could require
about an acre of Falk Park and about 2.5 acres of the
Root River Parkway, according to John Oimoen, WisDOT development
chief for the I-94 project.
"However,
whether or not WisDOT would build a new interchange at
I-94 and Drexel Avenue or 27th Street remains to be determined,"
he wrote to county Parks Director Sue Black.
An
acre is 43,560 square feet. The total that could be affected
by construction of the interchanges is 152,460 square
feet.
The
County Board's Parks Committee recommended last week that
the Parks Department be authorized to negotiate mitigation
measures with WisDOT.
Black
said those measures could include land transfers or easements.
County
Supervisor Lynne DeBruin, chair of the Parks Committee,
said any proposals would come back to the committee.
"It's
fairly preliminary in some ways," she said. "They
aren't clear for sure what they want to do."
To
see the Parks Committee freeway-related agenda items,
including diagrams of potential interchange plans, click
here.
Printer-friendly
version
Doyle
seeks authorization for freeway expansion
Governor dumps on transit
Feb.
15, 2007 -- Gov. Jim Doyle is requesting in
his state budget authorization to reconstruct and expand
North-South I-94 and the Zoo Interchange, budget documents
show.
Doyle's budget
seeks to spend more than $200 million, including bonding
authority, on southeastern Wisconsin freeways. He also
is seeking major increases for highway construction and
rehabilitation elsewhere in the state.
The
budget increase he is proposing for transit, however,
is so small that the Milwaukee County Transit System will
be devastated in just a few years if the state continues
increases at that level and new revenue is not found,
according to the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning
Commission.
The
governor is seeking authorization to proceed with the
two Milwaukee-area freeway projects even though engineering
and environmental studies have not been completed -- they
have barely started for the Zoo Interchange -- and the
cost of the projects have not been determined.
The
State Department of Transportation "generally may
not expend moneys, other than bonding proceeds, for any
southeast Wisconsin freeway rehabilitation project that
involves adding lanes five miles or more in length to
an existing freeway absent enumeration of the project
by the legislature," the Legislative Reference Bureau
said in an analysis of the budget bill.
"This
bill enumerates two projects: the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee
and the I-94 north-south corridor project in southeastern
Wisconsin," the analysis said.
Doyle
is recommending spending $115 million on southeastern
Wisconsin freeway reconstruction projects over the next
two years. He also wants to provide $90.2 million in bonding
authority to begin reconstruction of North-South I-94.
Doyle
also is proposing a $61.3 million increase in highway
rehabilitation funding, along with a $13.5 million increase
in major highway spending. The latter would be accompanied
by an additional $384 million in bonding authority.
Doyle's
proposed 2% transit funding increase, on the other hand,
would boost transit funding statewide about $6.1 million
over the biennium. That is not enough to keep the Milwaukee
County Transit System running even at its currently reduced
service levels, according to SEWRPC.
"If
state transit operating assistance only increases at about
2 percent per year, and the county property tax levy for
MCTS bus and paratransit services is held to 2005 levels,
the t r a n s i t system would need to reduce total vehicle
hours of service by about 35 percent by the year 2010,"
SEWRPC reported this month.
The
agency laid out some bleak alternatives.
"Option
A would cut service hours and eliminate some local routes,"
SEWRPC said in a newsletter.
"Option B would maintain service hours but eliminate
more local routes; and both options would also eliminate
all freeway flyer and UBUS routes. The options clearly
indicate the magnitude of the service and funding problems
facing the Milwaukee County Transit System."
Printer-friendly
version
