A plan to save money on highway megaprojects is likely to backfire, experts warn.
Amid much controversy out of the Wisconsin Capitol this month, one wonky transportation bill has escaped the limelight: a requirement that highway megaprojects be funded with a minimum of 70 percent federal dollars.
Federal funding, of course, comes with federal requirements—specifically, the requirement to pay contractors the federal prevailing wage. The new law's goal, according to transportation experts interviewed by Wisconsin Public Radio, is "to concentrate federal funds into fewer highway projects," thereby limiting the total number of state projects that would have to pay a higher wage. Governor Walker signed the bill along with several others passed in the recent lame-duck session.
But multiple state offices, including the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, have concluded that it's not clear that avoiding prevailing wage would actually save the state money on transportation projects. Moreover, advocates say the requirement could end up delaying major projects and repairs that aren't able to achieve majority federal funding. Read or listen to the full story at Urban Milwaukee.
FULL STORY: Lame-Duck Bill Changes Highway Funding
Wisconsin Republicans Unite to Support Road Tolling Over Gas Tax Hike
Assembly and Senate Republicans agree that the best way to fill the transportation funding gap is to add tolls to existing highways and bridges, yet they won't add toll infrastructure funding to the budget. A gas tax could be implemented immediately.
The True Cost of Texas Highways
An explainer of the monetary, environmental, and social costs of exuberant road building.
LA County Receives Reconnecting Communities Grants
Seven grant awards totaling $162 million will be used for planning, capital projects, and regional partnerships to reduce environmental harm and improve access in disadvantaged communities.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association