Can We Apply ROI Standards to Highways Please?
If we can quantify the returns to the state for an $80 million investment in a sports arena, why isn't it possible, with "big data" technology, to insist on obtaining a similar metric before approving $1.3 billion of highway bonding in the Governor's proposed budget?
Put Our Transportation Problems on the Radar!
According to WISDOT, the next State budget will have $680 million more in planned transportation spending than is projected to come in from gas...
Scott Walker Prepares to Crush Wisconsin’s Economy With Layers of Fresh Pavement
If you read the news today, you may know about a so-called "$700 million transportation shortfall" that Scott Walker talked about at an economic...
An Internal Contradiction in Thinking
There is an internal contradiction in thinking among Republicans who are anti-train and anti-transit while at the same time being anti-tax.
It is more costly...
GOP Bickers Over Zoo Interchange, Ped, Bike Funding Still in Flux
While Wisconsin’s mainstream media degenerate into covering the dispute between Assembly and Senate Republicans over whether the Zoo interchange should be delayed, I checked...
Dear Media: Please Research the Declining Returns on Highway Investments
Every couple of weeks, we hear about a $680 million shortfall in the transportation fund. The unspoken premise being that the projects that are creating...
So Far State Officials Can’t Prove Roads Grow Economy
If you have been reading my recent posts at Forward Lookout, you are aware that I have been sending out a series of open...
Wisconsin Road Lovers Stuck in 1990
The Local Government Institute of Wisconsin has a new report out ( Filling Potholes: A New Look at Funding Local Transportation in Wisconsin ) that makes the case for funding Wisconsin Transportation. The problem is that the report they cite to highlight how much highway construction benefits the economy is from 1990.
It’s Time to Maximize the Return on State Highway Spending
With Wisconsin’s State Senate flipping back to Republican control, Scott Walker is now has a clear path to implement his agenda. Walker has stated...
What’s So Scary About a Train?
"What's so scary about a train?" That question deserves to be asked seriously because within the answer lies the path forward for those who want to see rail transportation projects of all types survive and thrive in Wisconsin.
What the People of Wisconsin Want to Cut
I have brought up this poll before, but it is worth repeating as we brace for the Governor's Budget speech Tuesday at 4pm.
A November...
$25 State Bike Fee Possible
A followup question from Rep. Nygren to the DOT about raising fees on bicyclists has been answered in a recent Legislative Fiscal Bureau Paper...