The cost of delay
Once upon a time, there was a freeway to nowhere in Milwaukee. It ended in midair a little west of where I-794 now meets Lincoln Memorial Drive, a testament to decisions to start but then not finish expansion of the freeway system in Milwaukee. The only ones to ever use it (if memory serves) were Jake and Elwood Blues and a carful of neo-Nazis in a legendary scene toward the end of “The Blues Brothers.”
I’m not saying the Zoo Interchange is in danger of becoming the next unfinished freeway, but parts of it seem to be on a track to nowhere. And as the state Legislature continues to fight over transportation in this state budget, the potential for extended delay and extra costs for the busiest interchange in Wisconsin grows.
And that potential appears to have grown even more with the deal to bring Taiwan manufacturer Foxconn to southeastern Wisconsin: Gov. Scott Walker wants to speed up work on I-94 south of Milwaukee, the corridor in which Foxconn will build its facility, at the same time that his administration is slowing down some of the work for the Zoo Interchange because of a lack of funding.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for the jobs that the Foxconn deal could bring. Who isn’t? But there are still a lot of questions about whether those jobs are worth the cost to Wisconsin taxpayers. And there are nagging questions about the impact on local communities, infrastructure and environment.
As someone who lives close to the Zoo Interchange, I’ve lived with its many (and I do mean many) annoyances for several years now. With the exception of a couple of heated exchanges with “freeway ramp closed” signs that just sit there and never answer back, I’ve generally been OK with the work because I thought there was an eventual end in sight and because I thought the end result would be worth it.
But the more delays, the higher the cost and the more annoyances. The budget impasse could end up costing taxpayers and drivers. And delays are already happening: Last week, the Journal Sentinel reported, the state Department of Transportation pulled back on bids for work on the north leg of the Zoo Interchange for sewers, a pedestrian path, detention pond and noise barrier. The work was expected to cost $8 million to $11 million.
How much that would push back the scheduled 2020 completion of the entire project, DOT officials didn’t say.
On top of that, the governor and legislators are failing to address the real challenges of transportation funding. They’re arguing over how much to borrow and how much to delay; in other words, how far down the road they’re going to kick the can.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who put up a good but losing fight on the need to address revenue issues now, noted in a memo last month that the U.S. Department of Transportation says Wisconsin roads rank 47th in the nation, and estimates that 71% of our roadways are in mediocre condition. And a national transportation research group, TRIP, estimates that 39% of our major urban roadways are in poor condition and Wisconsin drivers pay more than $6 billion per year because of this deterioration.
And that’s just roads and bridges: transit remains pretty much a neglected stepchild throughout the state, and improvements are needed in rail, airports and harbors.
Lawmakers, giddy over Foxconn, are failing to seriously address any of this. Until that changes, expect more delays, higher costs and the potential for more roads to nowhere.