State Wants Money for Road Work

The state of Wisconsin is in a hurry to spend some $529 million it expects to get from the federal government. The state wants to spend the money on 49 roads and bridges. But three of the projects were quickly put on hold.

The money is part of the economic stimulus package. The package was approved by Congress and President Barack Obama earlier this year.

The first phase of the Wisconsin plan will use $42.4 million. The money will be used to repair or re-build roads and bridges in the state.

Projects must give people job
The federal government requires that the projects be located in areas of high unemployment. The state hopes the $529 million will put 13,000 people to work.

A committee of Wisconsin lawmakers approved the 49 projects on March 17. The plan only needed to be approved by the Joint Finance Committee. 

Members of the committee voted 16-to-0 to approve the spending plan. The committee has members from both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature. The Senate and the Assembly are the two bodies of the Legislature.

The vote on March 17 was the first release of federal money for local transportation works. Applications for a second phase were due April 8. The 49 projects were considered to be ready to start by March 2010.

One state Senator said 20 counties did not have any projects ready for federal money. Senator Judy Robson of Beloit also said some counties could get money for as many as seven projects.

Only one project in Milwaukee County
Wisconsin has 72 counties. Milwaukee County has the most people living in it of any county in the state. But only one of the 49 projects was in Milwaukee County.

The lone project in Milwaukee County was a bridge in the small village of River Hills. The plan called for spending $307,000 to replace that bridge.

River Hills is a suburb of Milwaukee. The people who live in River Hills have the highest income per home in the county.

The bridge in River Hills is not heavily used by cars and trucks. But that was not the issue. The issue was creating jobs for workers who would replace the bridge.

But the project will not go ahead as planned. All of the projects also needed to be approved by regional planning commissions.

A special committee of the regional planning commission voted to put the bridge project on hold. It also voted to do the same with two other projects.

The special committee voted to ask the state to use money from another source to pay for the three projects.