His proposals to charge ahead with freeway creation and expansion all over the state never did make much economic sense — hey, gov, the economy will not be helped if trucks can get between cities on new freeways, but break their axles on ruined local roads — but they seem less and less reasonable when the federal highway trust fund is considered. Congress just can’t get a deal done on funding, which means that state taxpayers may end up funding more of the road binge than Walker and his gang are letting on.

From the Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON—A six-year $556 billion highway and transit construction program proposed by President Barack Obama is the latest casualty of Washington’s spending stalemate.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), who is leading talks on the issue, said Wednesday she is now considering a two-year measure that would freeze federal spending on road, bridge and transit projects at existing levels.

The White House had called for a six-year infrastructure bill in his fiscal 2012 budget in part as a measure to create jobs and boost the economy. But lawmakers haven’t agreed on how to pay for the bill, amid a broader debate over how to slash federal spending.

Ms. Boxer, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said “funding challenges” could require a two-year, $109 billion bill setting funding at existing levels plus inflation. The bulk, if not all, of the funding for such a bill would come from the federal gasoline tax. Lawmakers would still need to plug a $12 billion shortfall under that bill, because gas-tax revenue is falling.

That’s an amazing increase and is even 21% more than the Wisconsin Department of Transportation asked for!

In FY10 and FY11, WisDOT will pay about $151.3 million in debt service; the agency asked for $287.1 million for 2012 and 2013; and Walker is recommending an astonishing $346 million.

Walker’s proposal is $194.6 million more than the 2010-11 figure and $58.9 million more than WisDOT sought.

Why this big increase? We don’t know. Walker’s proposed budget doesn’t tell us other than to say there is a re-estimate. For what? By whom? Yes, he is up to his old county tricks of withholding important information from the public footing the bill.

And Walker is pumping money into big road and unnecessary freeway expansion projects — the Zoo Interchange and North-South I-94 here in Milwaukee County — while cutting transit, local road aids and the money the state pays counties to take care of state roads. Transit, under Walker’s proposal, will move to the general fund, where it will compete for resources with education and social services, which Walker is also cutting. He also proposes to grab a share of sales tax revenue, which traditionally funded things like education and social services — and use it for transportation instead.

Who needs decent schools at a time of increasing global academic competitiveness when you can have wider roads in a time of declining oil resources instead?

Maybe all this laying of concrete is Walker’s tribute to himself: cement head, cement state.

It’s nice to see WisDOT to finally, finally recognize that the money for its boondoggle roadie fantasies is just not there and that wider freeways that won’t help ease congestion should not be a priority.

Repaving will give the freeway another 12 to 15 years of life, according to The Daily Reporter (registration required):

“Right now, we went with rehab because the underlying pavement is still in good enough condition we can utilize that,” WisDOT official Robert Gutierrez said. “It’s just more cost-effective to do it one more time this way.”

Gutierrez said that when the repaving job’s life is over, the state will consider reconstructing or replacing the interstate. Replacing? With what? Hmmm, it would be nice to see some possible alternatives.

A  representative of the paving industry disagrees with the decision to repave and says the freeway will need to be reconstructed some day.

Of course, this decision to repave was made under Gov. Jim Doyle, not under Gov. Scott Walker. Walker is owned by the road industry, so common sense may be in short supply in the coming years.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation solicited bids for the $12 million to $22 million Zoo Interchange bridge repair project and got exactly one bid — from Milwaukee Constructors LLC, which is made up of Edward Kraemer & Sons Inc.; Lunda Construction Co.; and Zenith Tech Inc., the same folks who brought you the bulk of the Marquette Interchange, according to the Daily Reporter.

But just one bid? When construction firms are dying for work?Is WisDOT kidding?

“People in this city are much, much more interested in seeing potholes and local streets repaired than expanding Interstate systems…That’s a message we have to deliver both to the state and the federal governments. There has to be a basic realignment of spending priorities.

Ald. Jim Bohl came up with an idea that will increase funding for street repairs by, in a roundabout way, increasing property tax rates for non-city units of government like the county, school district, Milwaukee Area Technical College and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

Bohl wants to use TIF district funds to pay for street repairs. TIFs are an economic development tool that allows municipalities to borrow to make improvements in an area, then use the new property tax revenue generated through the improvements and subsequent private development to pay off the loan. The borrowing municipality — in this case, Milwaukee — gets to use all of the new property tax money to pay down the loan instead of distributing the revenue to other taxing units as is customary.

Bohl’s idea — received warmly by several other aldermen — is to increase project costs within some or all of the city’s 48 TIF districts and use the extra money to fund street repairs outside of the districts, but within a half-mile of their borders, something state law allows. The city gets to keep the money generated by the TIF a little longer to pay off whatever the street work costs.

The other taxing units still need to collect the full amount of their levies and other property taxpayers simply will have to come up with more money to make up for the amount the city is withholding — they will, in short, be taxed at a higher rate because of the city’s keeping the TIF funds to pay for street repairs.

Yes, the streets really, really need fixing and Bohl is at least making an effort to get the damned streets fixed. Unless I’m really missing something, though, Bohl’s plan essentially would force other units of governments to put the cost of the street projects on their tax levies. This does not seem like a development likely to foster goodwill and cameraderie amongst all those starving local units of governments who can barely cover their own expenses.

Road-builders pouring concrete and money on the ground all over the state are having a good chuckle, though. No starvation worries for them. They’re eating well at the state trough.

More here.

Doyle accepted a WisDOT budget request to limit legal fees a court can award to lawyers who represent property owners who successfully claim that WisDOT shortchanged them in the amounts the agency offered for property. The governor  is proposing that attorney’s fees in litigated compensation cases be limited to one−third of the difference between WisDOT’s offer and the court-awarded purchase price, except that if one−third of that difference is less than $5,000, the amount of attorney fees included in litigation expenses may not exceed $5,000.

The limits would apply when the court-awarded sales price exceeds the the WisDOT offer by at least $700 and at least 15 percent.

WisDOT made it clear, in its original budget request, that its intent was to discourage lawyers from representing property owners.

“Litigating land purchases consumes more time and resources within the Department compared to negotiating directly with landowners,” the department said. “It could adversely affect the timeline of highway construction projects. Securing land can be a first step in a project and any delays can impact final completion and overall project cost.”

Doyle’s budget also would strip residents legal protections from residents who challenge government land grabs. Under current law, the Daprtment of Commerce can investigate  when the state tries to condemn and take property to make sure the state is obeying the law. If there are violations, Commerce can take the state to court. The governor wants to end the department’s ability to help the land owner.

Doyle also would kill the right of a person who loses their property to appeal to Commerce for review of his or her complaint. Under current law, Commerce can try to negotiate an acceptable solution with the agency that condemned the property. Commerce would not be able to do that under Doyle’s budget.

Finally, Doyle’s budget would kill a law that  the attorney general, at the request of Commerce, to prosecute all necessary actions or proceedings for the enforcement of the laws relating to relocation benefits.

More here.