How Bad are our Local Roads in Wisconsin? – A retrospective on “Fix-It-First”
How bad are local roads in Wisconsin? In case you missed it, the New York Times recently described Trempealeau County roads looking like “losers in a barroom brawl. Thick, jagged cracks run down the asphalt like scars, interrupted at points by bruised bumps. In some places, guardrails are tilted off their moorings like a pair of glasses knocked askew” (Source).
How did we get here?
The answer, decades of roadway expansion at the expense of maintenance.
In 2003, 1000 Friends wrote a report predicting this very future and alternatively proposed a better path forward. Known simply as “fix-it-first,” this policy promoted reinvestment in existing infrastructure first and expansion only after our local roads were taken care of properly.
It would have saved money and kept our local roads from crumbling. Check out our report and learn why we continue to promote fix-it-first as our most prudent option for a future with sustainable transportation funding.