MILWAUKEE — A new report on Wisconsin roads finds Milwaukee drivers are losing a couple of thousand dollars a year in part because of bad roads and crashes. That is according to a new report by the national transportation non-profit, TRIP.
"The TRIP report finds that the average Milwaukee Area motorist loses $2,473 annually,” said Rocky Moretti, the director of policy and research at TRIP.
It is something Milwaukee driver Molly Korinek knows all too well. Her job requires her to drive around the city most of the day.
"I'm constantly putting on like 50 miles a day,” said Korinek.
When asked what she thought of Milwaukee’s roads.
"Horrible, they are so bad,” exclaimed Korinek.
The constant wear and tear damaged her car. Korinek says her rear suspension went out and that she has a loaner.
“It's in the shop right now and $1,500 later,” said Korinek.
According to the TRIP report, most Milwaukee-area drivers pay about a thousand dollars a year as a result of poor or mediocre state and local roads.
TMJ4 News reached out to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the City of Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works for their response about the report, but they have not gotten back to us.
Milwaukee County’s Department of Transportation said in a statement, “Milwaukee County owns and maintains the County Trunk Highways (CTH) within Milwaukee County that make up only 81 lane miles.”
See the maphere with the current condition.
“In 2021, about 19 percent of CTHs in Milwaukee County had pavements rated in poor condition, 29 percent were rated in fair condition and 52 percent were rated in good condition," said Milwaukee County’s Department of Transportation.
Along with road conditions, the report says drivers pay around $1,500 a year for economic losses from traffic crashes and congestion. The three most congested highways in the state run through Milwaukee. They are I-43, I-41 and I-94.
"In the Milwaukee area, TRIP estimates that the average commuter spends an additional 46 hours annually stuck in traffic and wasting 22 additional gallons of fuel due to traffic congestion,” said Moretti.
Korinek hopes city and state leaders listen to these numbers because she says her livelihood depends on her car.
“It sucks because a lot of those areas that's where people can't afford to be getting new cars or spending $2000 on a fix,” said Korinek. “I’m just going to make it work. Thank god for credit cards."
Recently passed legislation has made billions of dollars in federal funding available to improve roads and bridges in Wisconsin and millions of more dollars has been allocated by the state. But TRIP wants those are to permanent funding sources and the cost of material and work continues to rise.
Milwaukee County's Department of Transportation released this full statement on the road conditions. Those comments are below.
Highway Maintenance Director: Highway MaintenanceThe Milwaukee County Highway Maintenance Department continues to do everything possible to keep our roads safe & accessible.The rising cost of materials, equipment, and fuel does pose some ongoing challenges, as well as the struggle to keep up with the current CDL driver wage market. In addition, State Routine Maintenance Agreement dollars have remained flat for the past five years. As far as the damage claims go, we recommend reaching out to the Milwaukee County Clerk’s office who deal with claims.
Transportation Services Director statement: Milwaukee County owns and maintains the County Trunk Highways (CTH) within Milwaukee County that make up only 81 lane miles. See the map here: https://county.milwaukee.gov/files/county/transportation-services/Transportation-Services/CTH/2021_ConditionRatingMap_Full.pdf [county.milwaukee.gov]
In 2021, about 19 percent of CTH’s in Milwaukee County had pavements rated in poor condition, 29 percent were rated in fair condition and 52 percent were rated in good to excellent condition. The majority of the roadways (lane miles) in Milwaukee County are owned and maintained by the City of Milwaukee. We recommend you reach out to the City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works for more insight on those ratings.Milwaukee County DOT continues to make progress with improvements to the CTH’s with safety as its main goal.More maps of roadways, bridges and signals under MCDOT’s jurisdiction can be found here: https://county.milwaukee.gov/EN/Department-of-Transportation/Transportation-Services/County-Trunk-Highway-Maps [county.milwaukee.gov]
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