happy new year, wisconsin transportation today and tomorrow

[Joyce Tang Boyland]

Happy New Year! 

It has been years (if ever) since I have written to you about Wisconsin transportation, but I am writing now because there is an opportunity right now for you, regardless of where you stand politically, to make something good and interesting happen. 

The state DOT is asking for public (aka YOUR) input on what to do about I-94.  This Tuesday 1/13 is the last day to send your comments.  If you will, please write a note today, however short, to jason...@dot.wi.gov  (and cc jtang...@gmail.com so your comment doesn't get lost).  Pick a point, any point, to write about in your own words and e-mail it to Mr. Lynch.  If you care to, you can ask your contacts to do the same.  The number of letters matters. 

Do you feel like it's all pointless and nothing good will ever happen in politics?  Keep your head up. Now is a good time because keeping on going the way we have been going would be problematic for both the right and the left.  The solution has to be something different from the usual. 

If you want to be data-driven:

The Stadium Interchange can be streamlined and made safer on its present footprint. WisDOT's own data don't support the traffic projections that DOT officials are using to propose a billion+ dollar expansion. 
 

If you want a positive alternative rather than just saying no:

There is a detailed alternative plan written by an experienced and well-qualified DOT engineer,
http://wispirg.org/reports/wip/rehab-transit-option .  [map shown below]

The Rehab / Transit Alternative saves money while improving transportation options for all, without disrupting a neighborhood. 

If you prefer to live within your means, and/or didn't like high-speed rail to Madison because of the ongoing costs:

High-speed rail to Madison was cancelled because of ongoing costs. 
The cost to construct the proposed freeway expansion?  $1.2 Billion, somewhere between 35 and 1000 years' worth of running high-speed rail (depending whose estimates are used).  That's not not even including the higher maintenance costs of an expanded freeway. And then freeways get re-built every 50 years. That's far more costly than a cost that was already considered too high.  The Rehab / Transit Alternative does better in the short and long term. 

If you want to strengthen families:

We have a choice between shaving a car commute by 4 minutes, or slashing a struggling family's bus commute by an hour or more.  There are too many families working multiple jobs spending hours commuting via sparse bus connections, who struggle to squeeze enough time to get their children to school, let alone attend their children's school conferences.  The Rehab / Transit Alternative strengthens families. 

If you care about our rivers and our lake:

More paving and more cars mean more run-off.  Freeway expansion pollutes.  The Rehab / Transit Alternative not only avoids new paving, but reduces pollution. 

If you want to increase employment:

I have met multiple people who could not apply for jobs they were qualified for.  Why?  If someone is unemployed, how could they buy a car to get there?  Currently, many jobs are in places where transit doesn't yet to.  That's a vicious cycle.  Being able to get to a job by transit gets people employed -- and right off the bat saves $10k a year to boot.  The Rehab / Transit Alternative improves infrastructure and increases employment. 

If you want to reduce health care and pension costs:

The pollution inhaled from living near a freeway has been shown to increase disease and early death.  The exercise induced by commuting by transit has been shown to increase fitness and overall health.  Treatment for chronic disease is a top driver of exploding business and government budgets.  The Rehab / Transit Alternative decreases disease and increases fitness -- and saves health care costs. 

If you want to build bridges rather than walls:

A freeway double-decker would literally build a wall. The transit routes in the Rehab / Transit Alternative build bridges. 

If you have aging parents who want to stay independent even when they no longer drive:

Widening the interstate does not help your aging parents to stay independent.  A healthy transit system does.  The Rehab / Transit Alternative helps you support your parents. 

If you have children or teens and you hope their non-step texting won't interfere with safely getting from here to there:

Regardless of whether they text or not, riding in a bus is 28 times safer than riding in a car.  And if they're texting and driving, that's as dangerous as driving drunk.  The Rehab / Transit Alternative maximizes their freedom and safety by giving them more places they can go more safely.

If you feel bad about asking rural Wisconsin to pay for a 4-minute-speedup in Milwaukee:

As my friend says, "We are alerting out-state Wisconsin citizens that Milwaukee does not want a billion dollars spent on 3.5 miles of highway here when there are pressing needs all over the state: potholes everywhere, neglected maintenance of existing roads [leading to] higher costs when the maintenance is done later, failing transportation services everywhere.  We are saying to out-state Wisconsin PLEASE TAKE this billion dollars and use it to fix local roads."  The Rehab / Transit Alternative is more sensitive to the rest of the state. 

Letters/e-mails to Mr. Lynch must be posted by Tues 1/13 to:

*Jason Lynch, PE, WisDOT Project Manager

Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT)
Southeast Region
141 NW Barstow St.
P.O. Box 798
Waukesha, WI 53187-0798
(414) 750-1803
jason...@dot.wi.gov

And cc to jtang...@gmail.com because the DOT has been known to lose comments. 

Thank you!  I hate spam; I write e-mails like this rarely and don't expect to do so again for a couple of years.  Please kindly let me know and forgive me if I have overstepped.

-- Joyce Tang Boyland

Thanks to Wm. Sell and the Coalition for More Responsible Transportation for laying out these ideas.  I do not claim originality. 

[dennis g]

Joyce:  The comment deadline was extended to January 27.

--Dennis Grzezinski