But state Sen. Duey Stroebel said all the talk of the declining condition of the state’s roads needs to be debunked.
The Saukville Republican said in an interview broadcast Sunday on “UpFront with Mike Gousha” that people should consider the source and motivation of those who publicize road grades.
“We hear about these studies that say how bad our roads are,” Stroebel said. “Well, you look at who pays for those studies? It’s people who make money building roads. The road builders are paying for those studies.”
Stroebel opposes tax or fee increases to help pay for what some claim is a crumbling state transportation system. He said other studies show a different picture for Wisconsin’s roads.
A report by the conservative Reason Foundation showed Wisconsin’s highway ranking improving from 31st in 2009 to 15th in 2012.
Stroebel said that in the Reason Foundation report, the four states ranked as having the worst roads have prevailing wage laws and no right to work law. The 10 states with the best roads, he said, do not have prevailing wage and have instituted right to work.
As with anything…. follow the money. There is a reason that we have a coordinated push for more transportation spending.
Stroebel brings up a good point about prevailing wage. Although Wisconsin has gotten rid of the prevailing wage requirements for some projects, we have not fully repealed prevailing wage requirements. Let’s fully enact these policy prescriptions before thinking about tax increases.
Good for Stroebel.
Liberals should thank this area for having elected officials to stand up to road builders!
I agree with Reason Foundation data.
No one has addressed the declining status of local roads (they aren’t covered in the Reason Foundation report). If you are a logger or farmer those town and county roads are critical to your operation. With heavier equipment and trucks allowed on those local facilities more maintenance in required and more often. Gas tax funds returned to the locals for local roads is falling, yet those same roads are the fist link in many businesses shipping of receiving product.
And isn’t it funny (or tragic) that the boogie man Dewey identifies is the wager earner. Let’s all pay other folks less for the same work yet expect better results. Why not keep that money out of the economy then whine about why the local businesses suffer. Great long-term economic strtegy.
Baldy,
So you disagree with the science the Reason Foundation Report used on showing Wisconsin’s improved road infrastructure?
kev:
Not at all. I pointed out that not all the data was presented by Owen, and the local road issue wasn’t addressed by either Owen or the Reason Foundation.
Odd that you would criticize anyone for not using science. Actually they didn’t use science for the Reason report, but rather data and statistical analysis. Far from your core competency, eh?
Baldy,
So you questioned how the data gathering and interpretation occurred here.
Why can’t people who question the global warming data, which does not have anywhere near the reputable and reliable data collection methods in Reason report?
Why are we ostricized by hateful liberals as “deniers” or “skeptics” for doing same thing you just did with Reason study?
You truly don’t understand any scientific or statistical analysis, do you?
Baldy,
It appears, for you, questioning a conservative organization data is good. And questioning data from the liberal agenda/religion is bad.
That’s what I understand.
kev:
The Reason report was a compilation of data from all 50 states with a comparison between the states. I didn’t say the data was bad, I said that it didn’t include local roads. See above. So again you have to resort to making stuff up in a feeble attempt to get in the last word. Rookie mistake.
There is no “liberal agenda/religion”, any more than the moon is made of cheese. Making stuff up again.
I am of the opinion that you really don’t understand much at all outside of your personal ideology.
Baldy,
I did never said you asserted data was bad.
When conservatives criticize global warming report presentation and summaries exactly like you just did, which is fine BTW, it is met with derision and ridicule by liberals with shouts you just don’t understand, followed by unsavory name calling.
What i’m asking is: would it be appropriate, because you don’t accept Owen’s summary in totality to use terms like “denier” or “skeptic”?
Just curious when questioning report summaries like this makes you a hero or a monster worse than Stalin.
kev:
“When conservatives criticize global warming report presentation and summaries exactly like you just did, which is fine BTW, it is met with derision and ridicule by liberals with shouts you just don’t understand, followed by unsavory name calling”.
More evidence that your really don’t have a clue about either scientific method or statistical analysis. This is really hilarious.
And again I ask, is English your second language?
Thanks for all the laughs.
So global warming studies and summaries do not use statistical analysis?
To put it clearer:
The Reason Foundation’s report compares state-owned roads (such as State Highway 33, STH 60, STH 67) However, only about 10 percent of Wisconsin’s public roads are State-owned roads. Wisconsin has a total of 114,800 miles of public roads – including federal, state and Interstate highways, local roads and streets. (source: http://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/about-wisdot/who-we-are/dept-overview/newspending.pdf)
Local roads are are under the jurisdiction of a town, a village, or a city. This category makes up most of those 114,800 miles of public road in Wisconsin. Maintenance and construction of local roads is paid for mostly by town, village, and city property taxes. Historically, WisDOT has distributed a fair amount of the revenue it collects to local municipalities to help them maintain those roads and construct new roads. This revenue sharing program is called “General Transportation Aids” (GTA).
What Baldy is trying to say is that the quality of LOCAL roads (not STATE roads) is declining because WisDOT’s GTA program no longer contributes as much to the local public works budgets as they used to, so municipalities are struggling to maintain their local roads. This trend started under Doyle, and has continued under Walker.
Year 2000 GTA share of local roads costs:
For counties, 27.8% For Municipalities: 22%
Year 2014 GTA share of local roads costs:
For counties, 18.2% For municipalities: 15.3%
Source: Page 57 in WisDOT’s budget http://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/about-wisdot/performance/budget/trends2014-15final.pdf
Begonia:
Thanks for the additional research. Greta stuff.
kev: Yes they do. What is your point?
begonia:
That should be “Great stuff”. Thanks again.