jacksonville

Calming dangerous roads

Nearly 32,000 Americans die each year from traffic accidents. This is the equivalent of a fully loaded jumbo jet crashing each week. Highway engineers go through the morbid exercise of trying to estimate the number of inevitable deaths on any section of roadway they design. Putting this in context – wouldn’t it be ludicrous if an architect estimated that a certain number of people would inevitably die annually as a direct result of using a building she designs?

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vmt

WISDOT Projections for the I-43 corridor have no basis in reality

Wisdot’s Purpose and Need Document for the I 43 N-S corridor projects an increase of traffic on freeway segments (2010-2040) that varies between 32% and 39% based on population projections and an average annual traffic growth rate of 0.93%.

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WisDOT’s Burgeoning Debt

How is Wisconsin paying for these ongoing roadway expansions? Data from Wisconsin’s historical budget trends document shows that bond funding has increased by 83% since 1998. Over the last ten years, the state has borrowed over $4.5 billion to pad the transportation fund. Debt service has increased by a staggering 307% since 1998.

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Changing Transportation Trends and Misplaced Priorities

Keeping in line with the rest of the nation, Wisconsinites are driving less each year. For the first time in history, vehicle miles driven have fallen for nearly a decade. Data from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation shows that VMT in the state hit a peak in 2004, and has since flattened out. The average […]

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Wisconsin’s Transportation System in Crisis

Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation, has varying degrees of authority over different transportation modes – from roads, to public transit, airports and rail. However, most of the department’s revenues are sunk into the state highway system, as shown in the illustration below. Years of over-investing in new highways, at the expense of other modes have left […]

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