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Question: What spends nearly $1 billion per year, destroys farms and wetlands, and brings more heavy truck traffic to your neighborhood?
Answer: WisDOT's draft 21-year State Highway Plan.
Question: What State Agency is critical of WisDOT's 21-year State Highway Plan?
Answer: The Department of Natural Resources.
Dec. 6,1999 Wausau, UW-Marathon Center, 518 South 7th Ave.
Dec. 8,1999 Madison, Dane County Expo Center, 1919 Expo Way, Mendota 5-6 Exhibition Hall
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm (both)
The hearings will include opportunities for attendees to provide written and/or oral testimony to be entered into the public record.
Written comments accepted as part of official record if postmarked no later than Dec. 17, 1999, can be sent to Ken Leonard, WisDOT, Bureau of Planning, PO Box 7913, Madison, WI 53707 - 7913.For more information, contact:
Sharon Jones 608/264-7757
sharon-dtim.jones@dot.state.wi.us
No public hearings scheduled in Southeast Wisconsin, La Crosse, or Green Bay, unfortunately.
Dear Friend,
Governor Thompson's Department of Transportation (WisDOT) recently unveiled its 21-year draft State Highway Plan (SHP). The key policy document on highways, the draft SHP recommends changes to the State Trunk Highway System, including rehabilitation and new expansion projects.
Most of Wisconsin's principal highways, including the Interstates, were built in the 1960's. The draft SHP represents a major investment in rehabilitating and expanding our highway system. While rehabilitation of deteriorating pavements and bridges are an obvious priority, this ambitious plan includes mega-highway expansions that will put Wisconsin in debt for many years, monopolize transportation resources, and open sensitive areas of the state to development.
Make your voice heard. WisDOT's plan to pave Wisconsin bankrupts our future, destroys our natural heritage, and confines us to our cars for the next generation.
Go to the Public Forum nearest you, but also submit written comments. These are not traditional hearings, but tightly controlled question and answer sessions. Demand that the legislature be required to approve the State Highway Plan before it is adopted by WisDOT - legislators need a chance to hear from the public on this issue which is so vital to Wisconsin's future.
For more information, contact Caryl Terrell, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter 608/256-0565.
The Draft State Highway Plan (SHP) calls for $20.2 billion over the next 21 years to fund the state highway system. Already over half of DOT's overall budget is dedicated to state highway facilities, including 5% for debt service on highway bonds. The draft State Highway Plan puts Wisconsin further in debt, nearly $1 billion per year for the next 21 years. The plan allocates $12.9 billion for highway rehabilitation, including pavement upgrades, safety improvements, bridge maintenance, and minor expansions.
Major Highway Expansions.
Roughly one-third of the draft SHP, or $7.3 billion, funds the Major Highway Program, which consists entirely of major highway capacity expansion projects. Currently, 75 such projects are underway, reflecting the fact that spending on the Major Highway Program has doubled in the past 10 years. The Draft SHP increases spending on the Major Highway Program yet again, to 66% over current levels.
The Major Highway Program, (all new expansions), accounted for $57 million in 1988, but by 2020 will increase to $350 million, or 6 times more.
Funding Shortfall.
How does WisDOT propose to pay for this major expansion? The answer is that they can't. The Draft Plan admits to a $4.2 billion shortfall, a gap WisDOT proposes to fill by presuming use of future federal funds, and increases in gas taxes and fees.
Costs Taxpayers Several Times.
The SHP affects the next ten state budgets. It costs taxpayers several times over, for the next several decades. Major expansions mean a larger state highway system to maintain in the future. Increased use of highways by heavy trucks and residents of car-dependent developments means faster deterioration. Secondary costs include paying a larger share of local road maintenance, subsidizing sprawl development along new highways, and health costs from air emissions.
The tax burden for local roads is effectively shifted away from state and federal aids onto local property taxes by the current budget proposal, continuing a ten year trend.
The draft SHP fails to estimate secondary land use (sprawl) impacts regarding farmland and wild habitat. The SHP claims that expansion of the highway system will relieve congestion, while studies and the experience of states with extensive highway networks demonstrate that congestion relief is minimal and quickly outpaced by newly generated traffic.
Ignores Induced Traffic.
New highway capacity typically generates extra traffic. This "induced traffic" is the additional traffic from pent-up auto trips, trips diverted from other routes, and the traffic generated by car-dependent sprawl development. Induced traffic brings congestion back, usually sooner than predicted. The draft SHP makes no attempt to model induced traffic, which can account for 60-90% of traffic on an expanded highway.
More Heavy Trucks.
The draft SHP also estimates that commercial truck traffic will double by 2020, but does not account for associated costs. Heavy truck traffic is a serious highway safety concern. Highway crashes are the leading cause of death for Americans between 15 and 24. The draft SHP should aim to reduce the need for long-haul trucking by stressing inter-modal connections with rail and shipping.
Destroys Farm Land and Wetlands.
Up to 39 square miles of greenspace, including 1,000 acres of wetlands, would be consumed for new right-of-ways under the draft SHP. This is an area the size of Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, but still only a fraction of the environmental area damaged from indirect, or secondary, impacts generated by highway access to sensitive areas.
The draft SHP estimates a 14% decrease in air emissions due to gains in vehicle fuel efficiency and congestion relief. This theory is flawed, as wider roads would allow more vehicles and faster vehicle speeds, and thus increased air emissions.
Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Emissions Neglected.
In addition, the draft SHP ignores ozone and greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gases in the state. Wisconsin is already struggling to meet nitrogen oxide (Nox) standards.
Health Impacts Neglected.
On high ozone and smog days, asthma and respiratory disease sufferers visit the hospital nearly 3 times more frequently. Children and seniors are the most likely to miss school or visit the emergency room on these days. Diesel trucks are one of the most significant sources of fine particle emissions which are linked to these respiratory attacks, and also to cancer.
Under the draft SHP, DOT intends to soak up federal funds which could support local roads, transit, rail, elderly and disabled assistance, bicycles, and pedestrian safety. Much TEA-21 funding is specifically intended for multi-modal projects, or those that increase mobility in multiple modes of travel.
Seniors And Non-Drivers Left Behind.
The SHP dedicates the majority of Wisconsin's transportation resources to the highway system, thereby failing to serve the transportation needs of much the state's population. Although the plan estimates that Wisconsin's older population will comprise nearly 20% of the state by 2020, it increases the likelihood that there will be inadequate funding for the transit and specialized transportation that older people rely on. In addition, the highway system does a poor job of linking people to jobs, to the extent that urban Milwaukee community members have submitted a formal complaint to WisDOT.
Plans for Transit, Rail, and Bikes?
There are no accompanying plans (beyond Translinks 21) for increasing funding for local roads, transit, and other travel options. Only the Highway Plan is updated every six years.
The draft SHP presumes to use almost all of the state's new federal funds, on state highways instead of on other needs. Fiscal year 1999, shown here, offers the first precedent.
Local and county roads are impacted by the draft SHP, but it does not compensate local communities. Counties must maintain state highway road miles, however between 1988 OT's overall budget is dedicated to state highway facilities, including 5% for debt service on highway bonds. The draft State Highway Plan puts Wisconsin further in debt, nearly $1 billion per year for the next 21 years. The plan allocates $12.9 billion for highway rehabilitation, including pavement upgrades, safety improvements, bridge maintenance, and minor expansions.
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