Highway Priorities

According to this study, via Ezra Klein's Wonkblog, 43% of the average state transportation budget went to repairing 98.7% of roads, meaning that 57%  of the budget went toward highway expansion and new construction for just 1.3% of the roads.  The study, Repair Priorities, from Smart Growth America and Taxpayers for Common Sense, analyzed that Wisconsin spent $429 million annually in road repair and preservation between 2004-2008, but that $685 million annually was needed. 

Using highway data, it estimates that 51% of Wisconsin's roads were rated as being in good condition.  While 51% isn't that great, it's better than the national average of 47%.  That "the nation as a whole earned a D- for road conditions on the 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers report card" is not a good sign.

As the Wonkblog's Brad Plumer noted, there was another paper with a more detailed case for "Fix It First" by Matthew Kahn( UCLA) and David Levinson (University of Minnesota).  Titled Fix It First, Expand It Second, Reward it Third, the paper outlines a new strategy for the nation's highways.  What's interesting is that it discusses how roads tend to stay in good quality for a long time, then its quality drops suddenly as it starts to fall apart.  If enough funding is provided to maintain roads, that period of good quality can last longer.  Replacing a road costs substantially more than the cost of repairing it.

As Governor Walker is so fond of saying, Wisconsin is broke.  So shouldn't we prioritize our highway funding to get more bang for the buck? 

Another aspect is that new highway construction and expansion adds more sprawl, more inefficient land use.