Wisconsin’s roads, highways and bridges form vital transportation links for the state’s residents, visitors and businesses, providing daily access to homes, jobs, shopping, natural resources and recreation. Modernizing Wisconsin’s transportation system is critical to quality of life and economic competitiveness in the Badger State. Inadequate transportation investment, which will result in deteriorated transportation facilities and diminished access, will negatively affect economic competitiveness and quality of life in Wisconsin.
Driving on Wisconsin roads that are deteriorated, congested and that lack some desirable safety features costs Wisconsin drivers a total of $6.8 billion each year. TRIP has calculated the cost to the average motorist in the state’s largest urban areas in the form of additional vehicle operating costs (VOC) as a result of driving on rough roads, the cost of lost time and wasted fuel due to congestion, and the financial cost of traffic crashes.
The report also found that:
- Inadequate state and local funding, have resulted in half of major locally and state-maintained roads and highways in Wisconsin are in poor or mediocre condition
- Nine percent of Wisconsin’s locally and state-maintained bridges are structurally deficient, meaning there is significant deterioration of the bridge deck, supports or other major components
- Congested roads choke commuting and commerce and cost Wisconsin drivers $1.9 billion each year in the form of lost time and wasted fuel
- Drivers in the state’s largest urban areas lose up to $1,067 and as much as one full work week each year in congestion
- More than 2,800 people were killed in traffic crashes in Wisconsin in the last five years
- Traffic crashes in which roadway features were likely a contributing factor imposed $1.8 billion in economic costs in 2016
See the full TRIP report here.
