Highway to Hell

The highway cabal is alive and well in 2022. The highway growth machine is an antiquated giant that keeps chewing up transportation budgets while doing nothing to alleviate the congestion. The media is more than happy to continually produce content detailing how wonderful each new highway project will be. For example, I-94 project about progress, connection. Sadly, the results are never as promised.

Milwaukee has made major highway investments in the Plainfield Curve, the Marquette Interchange and the Zoo Interchange, among others, over the past few decades. All these resources and money have done nothing to alleviate traffic congestion or make commutes any smoother for drivers. In fact, it has made things much worse. The roads, and routes, are more complicated and congested than ever. Travel times have increased, not decreased.

The political power of the highway cabal is evidenced by the fact that induced demand is a well-known result of highway expansion, yet we keep expanding highways. As Benjamin Schneider states, "When traffic-clogged highways are expanded, new drivers quickly materialize to fill them." Or, as Adam Mann out it, "Building bigger roads actually makes traffic worse."

As the report The Congestion Con details:

In an expensive effort to curb congestion in urban regions, we have overwhelmingly prioritized one strategy: we have spent decades and hundreds of billions of dollars widening and building new highways. We added 30,511 new freeway lane-miles of road in the largest 100 urbanized areas between 1993 and 2017, an increase of 42 percent. That rate of freeway expansion significantly outstripped the 32 percent growth in population in those regions over the same time period. Yet this strategy has utterly failed to “solve” the problem at hand—delay is up in those urbanized areas by a staggering 144 percent.

Those new lane-miles haven’t come cheap and we are spending billions to widen roads and seeing unimpressive, unpredictable results in return. Further, the urbanized areas expanding their freeways more rapidly aren’t necessarily having more success curbing congestion—in fact, in many cases the opposite is true.

If we really want to improve transportation safety, access to jobs, and mobility, we should be simply repairing (making safer) the roads we have while improving our modes of public transportation. 

For Further Reading:

How Induced Demand Explains the Vicious Cycle of Congestion

Expanding highways and building more roads actually makes traffic worse

Induced Traffic and Induced Demand

Generated Traffic and Induced Travel

Rules Of The Road

Clean the snow off your car.  I'm sick of you morons driving around with snow on your windows, the vehicle's roof, over the tail lights and then having the snow and ice blow off your car onto other cars driving anywhere near yours.  Take five minutes and brush the vehicle off before you drive on the road, you inconsiderate maniac.

Those of you living in dwellings with an alley, shovel out your space in the alley (and shovel out your sidewalks in the front of the home in a timely manner).  People shouldn't be trapped in their garage because some lazy ass has decided they don't need to shovel their portion of the alley.  Especially those of you owning properties at the entrances of the alley.  It's your responsibility to clear that entrance.  If that's too much for you, sell the house so a responsible owner can move in.

When there is an obstruction in your driving lane (a snow mound, a vehicle, etc.) don't just swerve into my oncoming lane assuming I'll move over.  First, the obstruction is in your lane, you're the one that needs to wait for oncoming traffic to pass before you swerve into the other lane.  Stop being a dick.

This is all really just common sense, courtesy and manners.  Enough of this thoughtless, selfish behavior.

Wisconsin Reading

The Incoherence Of Scott Walker
Milwaukee County On A Crash Course
Scott Walker's Economic Record In Wisconsin: Nothing To Brag About
New Development Plans For Streetcar
Who Pays In Wisconsin? Not The Rich, Unlike Minnesota
For Some Wisconsin Voters, Road Quality Is A Major Concern
State Jobs Agency Still A Failure
Schimel Suit Cost Workers $23 Million
Rewarding Corporations That Cut Jobs
WEDC, Foxconn And The Need For The Return Of Good Government In Wisconsin
New Memo On "Big Giveaway" To Rich Makes Evers Plans Look Even Better

Scott Walker Is A Creep

Scott Walker says Wisconsin needs a break from 'massive new interchanges in Milwaukee'

Isn't it odd how Wisconsin has $5 billion for Foxconn, but we can't find any money to fix our roads?  We have millions for sport stadiums, but there's not money available for our transportation needs. We have corporate welfare for any business that comes along with their hand out. But when basic infrastructure needs to be upgraded or repaired, Scott Walker can't find the money or the project just isn't a priority for him. 

The Republican party has been the party of road building (over other forms of transportation) for decades. They have to learn there are ongoing expenses with any investment - roads are no different. To love the ribbon-cutting for new roads (or any project, for that matter), but to then skip town when repairs are needed is irresponsible and a dereliction of duty. Also, Republicans shouldn't continue to support sprawl and the roads needed to get there, if they don't want to pay to keep those roads in working condition.

Scott Walker isn't a leader. He's a crony. A crony who continually funnels public dollars to his contributors, whilst short-changing the state and the needs of the citizens. His contradictory opinion of the Affordable Care Act, preexisting conditions and his involvement in the lawsuit regarding such perfectly illustrates this. Cost of Wisconsin's stance on the Affordable Care Act: $1.1 billion through this fiscal year.

Aside: Funny how an article supposedly about Scott Walker not wanting to fix Wisconsin roads turns into a hit piece on Tony Evers wanting immigrants to have drivers licenses.

Weekend Reading

Voter Impersonations Very Rare, Studies Show
Property Taxes Increase Under Walker
Support For Kavanaugh Pattern Of Ron Johnson's Horrendous Record On Issues Of Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment
Rewarding Corporations That Cut Jobs
How Liberals Could Declare War On Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court
Donald Trump And The Self-Made Sham
This Is How The Rich Steal From America
Milwaukee County Leaders Say They Will Seek A Fair Share Of State Tax Revenues
Lindsey Graham's Old Comments About Merrick Garland Come Back To Haunt Him
Wisconsin DOT Knowingly Paid Twice On Stretch Of Roadwork For Zoo Interchange
A Stats-Based Look Behind The Venture Capital Curtain

Walker Looking To Buy Your Vote

Scott Walker offers 50 percent increase to counties to fix their roads

When your policies are horrible, when all you've done is cut taxes for and give handouts to the rich, and your administration has been a complete failure, you've got no choice but to try to buy-off voters.

Suddenly Scott Walker wants to make investments in Wisconsin infrastructure. Now he wants to fix the roads, an idea which he has previously delayed or abandoned. Yes, now he's promising the world to all the Wisconsinites he's screwed over during his time in office. He's now promising to fix all of the things that he has screwed up.

Wisconsin, do the right thing in November. Get rid of Scott Walker.  

Sunday Reading

Water Safety, Lead Removal Plans Advance At Milwaukee City Hall
Watch 1998 Rudy Giuliani Torpedo 2018 Rudy Giuliani's Trump Arguments
Minnesota Outpaces Wisconsin, Report Says
Who Is The Freeloader: The Working Poor On Food Stamps - Or Corporations That Don't Pay Them Enough?
Trump Orders Help For Chinese Phone-Maker After China Approves Money For Trump Project
Journey Through The Land Of Extreme Poverty: Welcome To America
Scott Walker Has A Message For Wisconsin Voters: Here's Some Cash
All Betsy Devos Knows Is How To Profit From Schoolchildren
Enrollment Counts Expose Loophole In Wisconsin Parental Choice Program
Democratic Candidates For Governor Would End A Nation's First
Former DOT Head Is Scott Walker's Chief Critic On Transportation
The Anti-Roads Governor
The 9.9 Percent Is The New American Aristocracy

Weekend Reading

Wisconsin's Unprecedented Welfare Reform Could Inspire Conservative Changes Elsewhere [And That's Not Good]
Wisconsin Is Shifting Up To $90 Million In Local Road Funding To Foxconn-Related Projects
The Metamorphosis Of Scott Walker
David Brooks Radical Dishonesty
Wisconsin Labor Unions File Lawsuit Over Act 10, Saying It Violates Free Speech
As Manufacturers Get Tax Reductions, Wisconsin Homeowners Pay More
The Supreme Court's Latest Union Case Is Designed To Kneecap The Democratic Party
Could The Supreme Court Really Bust Public Sector Unions?
Trump's Tax Cuts In Hand, Companies Spend More On Themselves Than On Wages
A Wave Of Corporate Propaganda Is Boosting Trump's Tax Cuts
Mueller And Trump: Born To Wealth, Raised To Lead. Then, Sharply Different Choices

Weekend Reading

Gun Violence In America, Explained In 17 Maps & Chart
White American Men Are A Bigger Domestic Terrorist Threat Than Muslim Foreigners
The History of Sears Predicts Nearly Everything Amazon Is Doing
The Future of Wisconsin
How To Buy A University Department
County Must Pay $6.7 Million Verdict
America's Gun Fantasy
The Case Against Partisan Gerrymandering
Partisan Gerrymandering Got The Sotomayor Treatment
I-94 Cancellation Has Huge Impact
WisDOT Asks Feds To Rescind Decision For Controversial I-94 Expansion In Milwaukee
Let's Talk About Paul Ryan's Scorching Duplicity On Gun Violence, Mental Health, and, Well, Everything
The Republican Plan To Rob America

Sunday Reading

Wisconsin Faces Nearly $1 Billion Shortfall On Roads
Caterpillar Inc. Says More Job Cuts Are Coming This Year
Skills Don't Pay The Bills
The King of Subprime Lending
Government Holds the Promise of Faster Growth
What's Really Wrong With the Unemployment Rate
Wisconsin Public Sector Costs Rank Below Most States
Municipal Spending Highest Since 2011

The Call Is Coming From Inside The House

Karen Madden, of the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, recently reported, Wisconsin Roads Third-Worst In Nation. 

The numbers mark a dramatic decline in road quality. As recently as 11 years ago, Wisconsin's roads ranked No. 22 in the nation, and their deterioration affects almost every industry and motorist in the state, according to the study commissioned by the Local Government of Wisconsin Institute. 

Poor roads in the Milwaukee area cost drivers $700 a year in extra vehicle repairs, according to the study; in the Madison area, road conditions cost drivers an additional $615 in annual tire wear, maintenance and accelerated deterioration. Nationally, substandard road conditions cost drivers an average of $377 per year, the study found.
The primary culprit: State budget cuts that have slashed the amount of money dedicated to repairing both state highways and local roads, which has left fewer than half of Wisconsin's roads rated as "good" or better, the report found. 

The numbers come as no surprise to Emily Wattson, a 48-year-old Wisconsin Rapids woman who recently hit a pothole in Rudolph and wrecked the suspension on her 2008 car. 

"I paid more than $500 to get it fixed," Wattson said. "It threw the car out of alignment, ruined a tire and did some other stuff. 

"I don't think anybody is doing anything about the roads." 

Bad roads hurt manufacturing, farming and transportation, three industries that are vital to Wisconsin's economy, according to the Local Government Institute study entitled Filling Potholes: A New Look at Funding Local Transportation in Wisconsin. The group is a coalition of members of the Wisconsin Counties Association, League of Wisconsin Municipalities, Wisconsin Towns Association and Urban Alliance. 

The study found that if the state's roads aren't brought back into good condition, it could harm Wisconsin's struggling economy, which is rebounding from the Great Recession more slowly than other states in the Midwest. Companies that are considering moving to Wisconsin could choose to relocate in states with better infrastructure that doesn't cost them as much in annual repairs.

Yet, Republican Wisconsin legislators are proposing cutting road projects. (Which is understandable for any new road projects. But with the conditions of the current roads we have, it's borderline criminal to not repair them.)

If Wisconsin actually wants to be "open for business" we need to be maintaining, repairing and improving our infrastructure to attract businesses and workers. Defunding rail and road projects, alongside suppressing worker wages through union-busting, does nothing to improve the long-term health of Wisconsin's workforce or its built environment.

Despite all their bluster, Republican policies are actually hurting Wisconsin in every way possible. Wisconsin can't keep cutting off its own nose to spite its face.

Wisconsin Reading

Wisconsin Sinks In Job, Wage Growth Rankings
Wisconsin Roads Third-Worst In Nation
Does City Violence Deserve High-Level Meetings Like Arena?
Think Wisconsin Doesn't Rely On Gambling? Think Again
Scott Walker Is The Absolute Worst
What Makes Scott Walker Run?
$4.9 Million In WEDC Loans Delinquent
Wisconsin On Pace For Most Layoff Notifications Of Walker Administration In 2015
Paul Ryan Loves Talking About Poverty, But He Keeps Getting The Basic Facts Wrong
Scott Walker Has A Plan To Crush What's Left Of Labor Unions In America

Another Lost Opportunity

Demolition vs. reconstruction of Interstate 794

Tear down this freeway spur, replace it with surface streets and the results will be a better connected downtown Milwaukee, with more land for development and much lower road maintenance costs.

Transportation Infrastructure & Savings

[source]

The Good & The Bad Of Our Infrastructure

There has been a lot of talk about infrastructure amongst politicians, pundits, economic developers, etc. as a needed path toward revitalization. Different groups analyzing America's infrastructure have given poor grades to the quality of our bridges, electricity and water infrastructure.

Yet, Evan Soltas recently opined about The Myth of The Failing Bridge:

Maybe it's going too far to say, "The U.S. is doing just fine, thank you very much." The nation would benefit from reordering its infrastructure priorities -- away from new highways, for example, where we are already overbuilt and usage is falling for the first extended period on record. And we'd do well to take advantage of low interest rates and idle construction resources to knock out all of our future infrastructure needs. 

But the idea that the U.S. has an infrastructure crisis? No. A broad, permanent increase in spending is unwarranted...

Between 2001 and 2011, annual public investment averaged 3.3 percent of gross domestic product, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The average OECD nation spent 3 percent of GDP over the same period...

Total public construction spending has varied between 1.7 percent and 2.3 percent of GDP for the last 20 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By the Congressional Budget Office's slightly different measure, infrastructure spending has been between 2.3 percent and 3.1 percent of GDP since 1956...

Believe it or not, infrastructure has improved significantly over the last two decades. In its report for 2010, the Federal Highway Administration said that 57 percent of all vehicle-miles were traveled on federal highways with ratings of "good" or higher -- according to a measure of road quality pleasingly known as the International Roughness Index. That was up from 48 percent in 2000. The percentage of roads in bad condition has also declined: In 1989 6.6 percent of rural and urban interstates were rated "poor"; now only 1.9 percent of rural interstates and 5.4 percent of urban ones earn that grade.

Despite warnings from President Barack Obama, America's bridges have never been safer. The highway administration rated 21.9 percent of its bridges "deficient" in 2009, as compared to 37.8 percent in 1989. And contrary to Obama's implication, the word "deficient" does not mean unsafe, at least as the highway administration uses it. A bridge is "deficient" when it would benefit from expansion and renovation in line with usage.

Traffic congestion has diminished. In 1989, 52.6 percent of urban interstates were rated "congested" according to a comparison of peak volume to planned capacity. In 2009, the figure was 26.3 percent. 

So how can we have, as Soltas claims, steady infrastructure spending and improvements alongside others claiming failing grades for much of our infrastructure?

In 2010, 57 percent of all vehicle-miles may have been traveled on federal highways with ratings of good or higher, compared with 2000, but it could be that federal highways have been getting the bulk of infrastructure dollars. Regardless, a 9 percentage point improvement is still laudable. Yet, if this is where a majority of our infrastructure dollars were spent, we would expect to see an improvement.

Are population changes (primarily people moving), between 1989 to 2009, responsible for the decrease shown in traffic congestion? Because more people are living in certain mega-regions, does it follow that the areas which have lost population would have less congestion? Information concerning migration and commute times could help flesh this metric out.

Do we just need to re-prioritize how our infrastructure money is spent?

[source]

Jason Sattier has found that infrastructure spending is actually declining.

“In 2012, the Federal Highway Administration said 67,000 — 11 percent — of the nation’s 607,000 bridges were structurally deficient,” USA Today‘s Marisol Bello reports. “That means the bridges are not unsafe but must be closely monitored and inspected or repaired.” 

The chart above from Business Insider‘s Joe Weisenthal illustrates just how little money the federal government is spending on public construction. Despite this, proposals like an infrastructure bank can’t even get a vote in the House of Representatives.

The American Society of Civil Engineers 2013 Report Card gave our infrastructure a grade of D+. They estimate the U.S. needs $3.3 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2020. They estimate Wisconsin has 1,157 structurally deficient bridges, 71% of roads are of poor or mediocre quality, $6.2 billion is needed for drinking water and $6.4 billion is needed for wastewater. Almost 14% of Wisconsin bridges are either functionally obsolete or structurally deficient.

John Diehm and Katy Hall provide a graphic of bridge collapses across the country:

As Dave Jamieson notes, Washington Bridge Collapse: 759 Bridges In State Have Worse Sufficiency Scores.

The Times reports that, according to federal records, the bridge in question has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, which is well below the state average of 80. Yet 759 other bridges have even worse marks.

Lydia Mulvany reported, "Seven Wisconsin highways built in the last 20 years are underused, raising questions about the more than a billion dollars they cost taxpayers, according to a report the WISPIRG Foundation released Thursday...The state still is spending billions on highways while cutting funding for local roads and other forms of transportation, the report said. The 2011-2013 biennial budget appropriated $1.2 billion for highway construction projects, and Gov. Scott Walker's current budget proposal includes more than $3 billion in highway spending."

It appears, across the country, certain infrastructure is getting the bulk of spending (highways and more recently rail), whilst the neediest infrastructure goes without.

Total federal clean-technology spending, by year (billions), 2009–2014

[source]

Not all is bad, as Brad Plumer details:

Our infrastructure is actually getting better in some areas. For the first time in 15 years, the grade for U.S. infrastructure rose, from a D to a D+. And six areas have seen improvement since 2009, including roads, bridges, rail, drinking water, solid waste disposal and wastewater treatment. Two big examples: 

1) U.S. rail is getting better: Rail in particular has seen some big upgrades in the past few years, partly thanks to stimulus money but largely due to private investment: “In 2010 alone,” the report notes, “freight railroads renewed the rails on more than 3,100 miles of railroad track, equivalent to going coast to coast. Since 2009, capital investment from both freight and passenger railroads has exceeded $75 billion.” 

2) So are our roads: America’s roads have also become sturdier in recent years, thanks to an uptick in federal stimulus spending as well as increased investments from states and the rise of private-public partnerships — overall investments have now increased to $91 billion per year.

We are taking care of certain infrastructure (highways), it seems. Yet we are obviously neglecting other areas (water, electricity). The findings appear to indicate that merely diverting some of the funding for new/repaired highways and roads toward other infrastructure needs could go along way in helping address some of our most pressing infrastructure projects.

For Further Reading:

Impact Of Infrastructure Investment On America's Future

Infrastructure Readings

Investing In Infrastructure

More Extraordinary Returns: Public Investments Outside Of "Core" Infrastructure

Public Investment & Private Sector Growth

Whatever The Cause, Washington State Bridge Collapse Points To Bigger Problems

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/24/192217/whatever-cause-washington-state.html#storylink=cpy

Investing In Infrastructure

The Impact Of Current Infrastructure Investment On America's Future
Other Reports

U.S. Transportation

[source]

Expand The Parkway?

I see the idea of expanding the Lake Parkway south to Oak Creek is percolating again. With that in mind, here's an old response to that proposal (at the time, July 2009, being pushed by Pat McIlheran, Journal Sentinel writer, and Pat Jursik, Milwaukee County board member):

Pat [McIlheran] follwed up his last bit of nonsense with more of the same, Radical old idea: Let us move around.

In the latest expounding of obliviousness, Pat pushes for extending the Lake Parkway all the way to southern Oak Creek. Is there any problem more highways will not solve for these guys?

McIlheran then runs through the typical gamut of right-wing, development, talking-points: the automobile represents freedom, no one wants to ride the train/light-rail, and building on green space is cheap and therefore preferable.

His description of Pat Jursik's, Milwaukee County Board member, idea for this highway expansion is "revolutionary". In today's environment - sprawl, pollution, water shortages, crumbling roads and infrastructure, stressed budgets - to suggest we build more is absurd. To suggest we build mass transit options that alleviate our dependence on automobiles and highways is, as Pat would say, "Right on!"

McIlheran thinks that if we don't expand highways and if we do expand rail options, we are "cutting off people's options." Someone check into Pat's relationship with the highway lobby. Is there a status quo entity for which he is not a shill? Again, Pat goes back to the oldie but goodie, implying that because we are Americans we can do whatever we want...the planet be damned! Not building highways, continuing to allow us to spew pollutants, nor paving over green space somehow equates to American freedom and would be "cutting off our options".

He then goes on to show more ignornace regarding the latest research, and a complete blindness to a Milwaukee case study. He, agreeing with Jursik, pontificates that tearing down the highway and replacing it with a surface street or lift bridge would be foolish. Maybe they both should read, 4 Cases of How Tearing Down a Highway Can Relieve Traffic Jams.

They mention how surface streets isolate one area of the region from the other. But on the contrary, what they actually do is encourage high-density development and community along those surface streets. Just the opposite of what McIlheran and Jursik are proposing. They want to relieve surface streets of traffic - which would relieve the businesses along these streets of customers. This of course would lead to more exit-ramp, big-box retailers sprouting up along the highways so drivers can jump on and off to get items they might need on any given day. We'd hate to see people shopping in their own neighborhoods supporting local retailers and entrepreneurs. It's much better that we spend money at absentee-owned stores that pay a lower wage and subsequently siphon much of that spending outside our border. Basically, McIlheran and Jursik just want more of the same. More highways for more driving, just not on surface streets, so all of our driving can be at higher speeds, alongside more of the same, haphazard development we've seen over the last 50 years.

The boogeyman here is congestion. We need more highways to relieve all our congestion? What congestion? Milwaukee has one of the shorter commute times of any larger city. Milwaukee was recently ranked the third best city in the country for commuters by Forbes magazine.

We need an investment in rail. Being one of only two or three areas in the country without, or not planning, light-rail is bad for business, the environment, and our quality of life. And, this would only make our commute time even better.

Glaringly absent from the article is a discussion of induced demand. The phenomenon whereby building highways, adding lanes, actually increases congestion on those highways. But economic development, urban planning, and quality of life are obviously not Pat's forte. He's only worried about convenience.

Is McIlheran unaware of the environmental issues breathing down our necks? Or just unwilling to make lifestyle changes to avoid catastrophe? He even makes a crack about, "the silliness of opposing all new pavement." Seemingly, somehow, glorifying and proclaiming the righteousness of paving over open space. Again, showing his complete ignornace regarding the environmental issues with sprawling development.

For Further Reading:

Car Clowns

Road To Nowhere 

Monday Reading

$207 Million For Suburban Freeway
Congress' Potential Faulty Tax Logic
"Ever Expanding" Government Illustrated (Part III)
Federal Judge Rules Ban Of Project Labor Agreements Unconstitutional
Richest 1% Account For Nearly All Of Recovery's Gains
Tax Code Not Aligned With Basic Principles
The Evolution Of Top Incomes In The U.S.
The History of Milwaukee & It's Government
The Wisconsin Uprising
Video Shows Walker Saying He Will Negotiate With Unions

Roads, Roads, Everywhere

With a dying planet and a dying economy, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation decides to double down on pollution and antiquated energy and transportation sources.

DOT kills Hoan Bridge bike lane proposal.