Dolan Media Newswire Story
Subject: Wisconsin road builders reject coalition road plan
Pub: Daily Reporter, The
Author: Paul Snyder
Category:
Sub-Category:
Issue Date: 01/15/2009 Word Count: 40
Wisconsin road builders reject coalition road plan
by Paul Snyder
Dolan Media Newswires
© Dolan Media Newswires 2009.MILWAUKEE, WI -- Road builders dispute an environmental coalition’s claim that the best way to fix state highways is to repair what’s there and avoid expansion.
The Coalition for Wisconsin’s Green Economy on Tuesday issued a blueprint for the best way to spend federal stimulus money. In terms of transportation, the coalition argues the state should put maintenance and repair ahead of new construction.
“We’re having trouble keeping our existing infrastructure up to date,” said Steve Hiniker, executive director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin and a member of the coalition. “The more we build, the more we have to maintain. Should we do that when we’ve already shown we can’t maintain what we have?”
Hiniker, echoing the coalition’s blueprint, said by fixing existing roads, the state will retain jobs and avoid inefficient development that promotes sprawl, increases fuel consumption and releases climate-change emissions.
Hiniker said he considers highway expansion work new construction.
And that’s where road builders take issue with the coalition’s “fix it first” plan.
There are several highway expansion projects on the state’s federal stimulus wish list, and that work on the interstate system times out well with the need for repairs, said Craig Thompson, executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin.
“Why would we simply tear it up and fix what’s already there?” he said. “That would be short-sighted and foolish. We can look at increasing capacity at the same time we’re tearing it up.”
Terry McGowan, business manager for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139, agreed.
“If you’re going to fix something, fix it right,” he said. “When I hear ‘repairs,’ I think of patching potholes, and, frankly, there are only so many patches you can put on an old tire.
“When (the American Society of Civil Engineers) rates our transportation infrastructure at a ‘D,’ what is there to repair? You have to overhaul the whole system.”
Robert Kraig, program director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin and a spokesman for the coalition, said most of the $630.7 million of work, which includes repairs and expansion, the state says it could turn around within 120 days for federal stimulus money is the kind of work the coalition wants.
But he said the reason the coalition issued a blueprint and pushed for a distinction between repairs and new construction is to keep state agencies focused on their original requests if the money arrives.
“If there’s an unwillingness to put in earmarks at the federal level, then it has to be done at the state level, and there has to be someone reminding the state of categories and standards,” Kraig said. “This goes well beyond mid-February, when we’re expected to get the money.”
WisDOT spokeswoman Peg Schmitt said the department is not discussing project priority.
“Anything we’d talk about right now would be purely speculative,” she said.
Hiniker said the more money the state puts into roads, the more it takes away from increasing its transit options. The coalition’s blueprint also ramped up increased transit investment as a way to cut down on road capacity issues.
Thompson agreed the state needs to put more focus on transit but said those options will be on hold until the state gives municipalities the right to create regional transit authorities.
That plays against the coalition’s stated push for promoting “shovel-ready” projects, but Hiniker said the dialogue should not be solely about road building.
“Reconstruction’s important for us, but with transit, we won’t have to worry about overbuilding,” he said. “Let’s not give up on giving up on expansions.”
Until that day comes, however, McGowan said there’s no harm in talking about repair work and new construction in the same breath.
“This is about acknowledging and replacing the country’s crumbling infrastructure,” McGowan said. “Repair, to me, doesn’t get America working. We need new roads.”
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