FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2008

For more information contact:
Craig Thompson
Executive Director
(608) 256-7044

Transportation Development Association Objects to Playing Politics with Transportation Fund

Craig Thompson, executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin, praised legislative leaders in a statement today for working together to try to solve the state’s $652 million budget shortfall without resorting to a raid on the state’s transportation fund.

“That’s the good news,” Thompson said. “The bad news is that Governor Doyle has not made the same commitment.  The Administration is proposing to cancel the spring road-construction season if the budget deal doesn’t include a way to take money set aside for road work and use it to help solve the general fund deficit.”

Thompson is referring to an official warning issued by state Secretary of Transportation Frank J. Busalacchi Wednesday and posted on the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Web site.

“Please be aware,” the warning reads, “that if action is not taken shortly to address the budget situation, May and June lets [road construction expenditures] could be… reduced dramatically.”

“What the secretary is talking about is redirecting hundreds of millions of dollars from road projects resulting in the loss of thousands of Wisconsin jobs,” Thompson said.

Thompson added that the funds in question are gas tax and registration dollars that taxpayers have already sent to the state to fund the road projects. “To transfer that money elsewhere when our roads are in desperate need of repair and people are counting on these jobs would be wrong,” Thompson said.

Some of the projects slated to begin in May and June are: resurfacing I-94 between Milwaukee and Madison, numerous stretches of Hwy 41 in northeast Wisconsin. Click here for a full listing of the projects.

Over the last six years, Wisconsin has transferred $1.1 billion from the state’s transportation fund to the general fund to try and dig out of what were perceived to be “short-term” budget shortfalls. “We have tried transferring from the transportation fund to solve our budget woes before and it hasn’t worked,” Thompson said. “Wisconsinites are paying the price for these past mistakes today.  To try it one more time at the expense of our entire transportation network and people’s jobs is almost inconceivable.”

The Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin is a statewide alliance representing more than 400 transportation stakeholders committed to working together for the best in transportation. TDA members include businesses, labor, units of government, and organizations, as well as individuals. For more information, visit www.tdawisconsin.org or call (608) 256-7044.