Incoming Head of the Wisconsin DOT Says the State Needs to Do Better When it Comes to Roads
Tuesday, January 29th, 2019 -- 9:02 AM
(WRN) -The incoming head of the Department of Transportation says the state needs to step up efforts to repair and rebuild the road system.The incoming head of the Department of Transportation says the state needs to step up efforts to repair and rebuild the road system. Secretary-designee Craig Thompson says it's going to take some time to undo the damage that low road funding has done to state and local roads.
"We have not been keeping up on our rehabilitation programs as much as we would have liked to, so we have seen system conditions, by basically all metrics, deteriorate pretty significantly."
Thompson says Wisconsin is the second most transportation dependent economy in the country.
"We need to put forward a budget that begins to address a transportation system that reflects that, and accommodates the tourism, agriculture and manufacturing economy that we are."
Thompson says years of low funding have left the state, county, and local road network debilitated and reliant on the wheel tax for repairs.
"We're seeing more bridges weight restricted, we're seeing more roads weight restricted, and it's having an impact on our economy. So we believe we need to get more money into local aids, and into the state state highway rehabilitation program."
Thompson says that he and Governor Evers will be working to gather input from cities, counties and businesses to find out how best to address funding for roads in the next state budget.
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