I-39/90 expansion (Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay: taxes, live in, costs)

[spectator80]

i live in madison and have family in central illinois, so i travel on I-39/90 many times per year. the traffic congestion on I-39/90 - from the illinois state line to madison - can at times be quite bad, so i was glad to see that there are now plans to expand the interstate to six lanes:

State details plans for expanding Interstate 39-90

there are a couple of interesting factoids in this article. for instance, "a study by the Center for Freight & Infrastructure Research at UW-Madison found that the roadway is responsible for moving $650 million to $800 million worth of commerce each day." who knew?!

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by spectator80

there are a couple of interesting factoids in this article. for instance, "a study by the Center for Freight & Infrastructure Research at UW-Madison found that the roadway is responsible for moving $650 million to $800 million worth of commerce each day." who knew?!

I did! By now virtually every freeway in WI should be 4 lanes each way and 5 in some areas very soon. I am all for this!

[sholomar]

it's fairly congested on I-90/94 up to where they split off near Tomah. That entire stretch from there, to the Illinois border, should be 6 lanes in my opinion. You've got the twin cities, La Crosse, and Albert Lea being a major hub for companies to stage product for shipping as well, a lot of semi-traffic through that stretch. Anyone who wants to travel from/to Chicago to these cities, or Eau Claire, Rochester, etc. will use 90/94. Plus the Dells are a summer tourist destination..

[Chelito23]

I agree. I don't see the controversy here, but some people are just so anti-expansion and anti-growth. It's like people who deny climate change when it's 80 in March for a week. What needs to happen? They don't see congestion on the freeways, they just think it's the new normal that a rural interstate should be "crowded" and they don't realize that a roadway with high speed limits needs to be open with plenty of space between vehicles to remain safe. Well, I am speaking to the choir, the comments on the Madison newspaper's website were a landslid against the widening lol.

[Drover]

I don't know that it needs to be 6 lanes all the way to Tomah but it's about time I-90 was expanded to 6 lanes from the point where I-39 merges with it near Portage clear to Chicago. Right now it's only 4 lanes from Randall Road in western Kane County all the way out to Rockford, and then it narrows back down to 4 lanes again from Rockton until it hits the Beltline in Madison. That's silly.

[Jesse276]

I don't have a problem with the expansion, I have a problem with the state paying 70% of the cost & the feds only covering 30%.

Usually the numbers are reversed, this doesn't seem like a good use of state money. If they set up tolls to pay the cost, I would be all for this.

[Chelito23]

I would love to have a toll system implemented. Wisconsin is basically the first state when comming from the east coast where the tolls stop. Why? We would have better roads, users would pay...but for some reason it just doesn't get done. It would be nice though.

[liveurdream]

Originally Posted by Chelito23

I agree. I don't see the controversy here, but some people are just so anti-expansion and anti-growth. It's like people who deny climate change when it's 80 in March for a week. What needs to happen? They don't see congestion on the freeways, they just think it's the new normal that a rural interstate should be "crowded" and they don't realize that a roadway with high speed limits needs to be open with plenty of space between vehicles to remain safe. Well, I am speaking to the choir, the comments on the Madison newspaper's website were a landslid against the widening lol.

Those are the nuty liberals so it is expected.

[Milwaukee City]

As someone who travels through MN, IL MI, WI, IA, IN, often I would expand the freeways to 8 lanes from Tomah down to the state line and 6 lanes everywhere else in the state that it is currently not. When you repaved or rebuild freeways you don't just do it for current capacity you design the freeway and expand it for futures capacity needs as well. The number I have often heard was 20/25 year in advance. Milwaukee currently is expanding the freeway from 6 to 8 lanes from the Mitchell Interchange down to the state line which even in rush hour in Milwaukee 4 lanes northbound is not enough and traffic is only going to get worse as people fill in the area between Oak Creek and Kenosha. I-43 from Beloit to Milwaukee is fine at 4 lanes but is a very rough ride almost like driving on a washboard. Hwy 45 from the Zoo in Milwaukee to Green Bay should be 8 lanes the whole way up. I could see expanding 39/90 to 8 lanes easily, it gets very congested during summer weekends and their have been countless pile ups. I'm torn on the tolls idea, I am not against them I would just like to see all the money from the tolls be put back into the freeways and raided like all the other state funds. The amount of taxes we pay in this state, we should have great freeways and side street but we don't!

[Chelito23]

What I don't get is, when the US interstate system was built, why was it relatively plausible and easy to do so? But now, just adding a lane or rebuilding or adding an extension is a monumental achievement or task? Was there some sort of special legislation that allowed what we have now? I look at maps and think, certain areas need new highways or freeways (think Lale County, Illinois from west to east, Hwy 12 from Chicago up through the NW suburbs into Lake Geneva and on to Madison, etc). But none of this is going to happen. I get that costs have gone up, but it seems like these kinds of huge projects are always riddled with problems, overrides, etc. I wish we could still build big like we used to. And not just freeways, I would love a TRUE high speed, elevated bullet train. But I suppose most people are happy with the way things are.