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The Role of the State in Mass Transit

Our state was amazing in so many aspects. Wisconsin was once the pride of the nation

in democracy, its products, and its infrastructure. One of our strongest assets was our excellent

transportation system. If you look up old maps of Wisconsins rail system , you get an idea of

what we have lost over the years.1

More shocking, then, is the map of current railroads throughout Wisconsin.2 The number

of railroads in our state has dramatically decreased over the years in between. This is due to

many causes. One was the rise of car and truck transportation. Another was a consistent lack of

support on the federal and state level for efficient mass transit.

In these recent years in which Mr. Walker has been in office, the state has, surprisingly,

increasedfunding for transportation across the state. However, at the same time the

administration has fought federal funding of a mass transit system, has worked to slow the

progress of the Milwaukee streetcar, and has cut state mass transit funding more than any time

in the last 10 years. In fact, the funding for transit in the state was increasing by a small amount

each year until Mr. Walker took office.3 This duality, this juxtaposition of pro- and anti- transit,

seems odd.4 But have these increases been to transportation as a whole, or to specific parts of

the DOT budget? What measures have been taken with regards to road? To rail?

The results are disproportionately in favor of road building. Not only has there been a

decrease in mass transit funding in the 2013 biennial budget, but also an increase in the funding

for road and highway construction. The Walker administration has undoubtedly supported the

creation of roads and new highways over the building up of mass transit.

This raises the questions: What are the benefits of mass transit? Is supporting roads a bad

thing?

Despite the many studies showing that mass transit, specifically light rail and commuterrail, are both more efficient and more cost effective than highways and buses5, the Walker

administration continues to be ideologically pressed to deny any attempts to build rail

infrastructure. Many parts of America in the modern age have begun to once again embrace rail

mass transit and mass transit in general as an efficient and effective means of transportation.

Cities such as Portland, Seattle, Denver, and Phoenix have used the model of mass transit

recently to improve their business and residential environments.

Rebuilding the roads and highways of Wisconsin is necessary. Because we live in a

temperate zone, there is a high need for road construction. We need to re-pave our roads

almost every 20 years. There was even a little joke about it I heard from one of my friends:

There are two seasons in Wisconsin: Winter, and road construction. - This highlights an

important fact about the norm of transportation in our state; We are far too used to seeing

orange traffic cones, congestion backing up our highways, and roads full of potholes. As citizens

of Wisconsin, we have been cheated out of an effective, cheap, clean, and efficient transit

system. We have been cheated out of the same transit system which is now embraced by so

many others across the nation.

While building roads and highways does provide jobs, these jobs are temporary. The

creation of alternative forms of transit such as buses and trains makes permanent jobs as well

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as temporary construction jobs. Mass transit gives companies a site which is guaranteed to

have traffic, an area where they can set up shop and be sure of their success. In this way, mass

transit can create jobs just by existing. Mass transit contributes to the minimization of

segregation,6 it reduces traffic times, and it takes a load off our overused highway system. We

need a transit system which works for us.

That system we seek is not necessarily one with just rail transit. There are many optionsfor building a statewide transit system that would work for the populace and still be cost-

effective. However, Wisconsin can be so much better than this mess of roads we have now. We

were so much better. One can see that fact simply by looking at the old map of our rail lines.

The Walker administration does not currently do what is best for the state in the realm of

transportation. By spending more money on road building, and less money on building a better

community, Mr. Walker is taking this state backward.7

1.http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl

2.http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/localgov/docs/railmap.pdf

3.http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/survey_state_funding_FY_

08.pdf

4.http://www.dot.state.wi.us/about/tfp/docs/keep-wi-moving-report.pdf

5.http://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/do-roads-pay-themselves

6.http://www.civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/docs/transportation/getting-home-july21.pdf

7.http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/108064274.html

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.plhttp://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.plhttp://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.plhttp://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/localgov/docs/railmap.pdfhttp://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/localgov/docs/railmap.pdfhttp://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/localgov/docs/railmap.pdfhttp://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/survey_state_funding_FY_08.pdfhttp://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/survey_state_funding_FY_08.pdfhttp://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/survey_state_funding_FY_08.pdfhttp://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/survey_state_funding_FY_08.pdfhttp://www.dot.state.wi.us/about/tfp/docs/keep-wi-moving-report.pdfhttp://www.dot.state.wi.us/about/tfp/docs/keep-wi-moving-report.pdfhttp://www.dot.state.wi.us/about/tfp/docs/keep-wi-moving-report.pdfhttp://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/do-roads-pay-themselveshttp://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/do-roads-pay-themselveshttp://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/do-roads-pay-themselveshttp://www.civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/docs/transportation/getting-home-july21.pdfhttp://www.civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/docs/transportation/getting-home-july21.pdfhttp://www.civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/docs/transportation/getting-home-july21.pdfhttp://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/108064274.htmlhttp://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/108064274.htmlhttp://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/108064274.htmlhttp://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/108064274.htmlhttp://www.civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/docs/transportation/getting-home-july21.pdfhttp://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/do-roads-pay-themselveshttp://www.dot.state.wi.us/about/tfp/docs/keep-wi-moving-report.pdfhttp://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/survey_state_funding_FY_08.pdfhttp://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/survey_state_funding_FY_08.pdfhttp://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/localgov/docs/railmap.pdfhttp://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl