storyhill.net, Nov. 21, 2006

WisDOT pushes freeways over elderly assistance, transit

Nov. 21 -- The Wisconsin Department of Transportation would substantially increase highway funding while skimping on aids for mass transit and support for elderly and disabled transportation, according to the agency's budget request.

County Supervisor Lynne DeBruin said the 1.5% increase in transit aids sought by the WisDOT would mean further service cuts by the Milwaukee County Transit Service.

The WisDOT budget also would hit drivers with huge fee increases, no matter how much or how little individual motorists actually drove.

The budget includes $206 million in new funding for Milwaukee area freeway projects, but just a $601,000 two-year, statewide increase in assistance for transportation programs for the elderly and disabled.

The request "puts the cost of driving further out of the reach of poor people and again underfunds transit so the disabled and elderly can’t go where they need to go," said Robert Trimmier, co-chair of Citizens Allied for Sane Highways. "It is an awful budget, an embarrassment to (Gov. Jim) Doyle. We hope the governor will fix it.”

CASH is a coalition formed to oppose freeway expansion in Milwaukee.*

Ward Lyles, transportation policy director for the land use group 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, suggested that new ways of thinking are needed WisDOT.

"The last two summers have shown every family and business the economic peril of our oil dependency," he said. "Short term economic concerns, however, pale in comparison to the need to address the fact that greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks are a major driver of global climate change, the profound social, economic and environmental consequences of which we are understanding better every day."

Business as usual budgeting, Lyles said, "is not acceptable for the short or long term. Wisconsin needs to curb excessive spending on overbuilt highway projects and dramatically increase its commitment to a wider array of transportation choices, including transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities and rail."

The budget request places heavy emphasis on road building and asks for:

• $24 million in new funding for studies related to reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange. Gov. Doyle announced during his re-election campaign that he wanted to accelerate the project schedule, which led to funding being sought earlier than it otherwise would have been. The department also is seeking the creation of 25 full-time positions to assist with the Interchange project. "The reallocation of existing resources is not a viable alternative because significant transportation improvements are needed throughout the state," it said.
• $182 million to continue work on the I-94 North-South project. There is no overall funding plan for the effort to reconstruct and potentially expand 34 miles of freeway from the Illinois / Wisconsin state line to Holt Ave. in Milwaukee. The entire project may well cost $2 billion.
• A $13.5 million funding increase for major highway projects and authorization for $390 million in new bonding authority for major projects and administrative facilities.
• A $66.3 million increase in state highway maintenance and operations funding.
• A $601,000 statewide increase in funding for transit assistance for the elderly and disabled.
• A $5.3 million statewide increase in transit funding.
• A $1.5 million increase in funding to maintain Amtrak service to Chicago and add a an additional passenger car to each train.
• A $25 increase in the annual cost of car registration. The increase would be greater for larger vehicles.

*Full disclosure: storyhill.net editor Gretchen Schuldt is CASH co-chair.