Transportation Projects Commission likely to reconvene this winter

Listen to this article

A commission called on to study some of Wisconsin’s largest road projects may meet this winter for the first time in five years, a step that could lead to the addition of new highway projects to the state’s to-do list.

The Transportation Projects Commission, a 15-member bipartisan group, hasn’t met once since 2014. The group’s responsibilities include weighing in on highway projects that are part of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation‘s Major Highway Development program, which are typically among the biggest in the state.

Because of the commission’s long hiatus, some contemplated highway projects have been on hold for years. Kevin Traas, director of policy and finance for the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association, said the standstill has prevented the state from planning the management of some long-contemplated infrastructure work.

“These are the kind of projects that really drive the economy, the most heavily traveled roads in the state,” he said.
Sporadic meetings aren’t necessarily anything new for the Transportation Projects Commission, though. The commission also didn’t meet between 2002 and 2010.

Traas said the Transportation Projects Commission came together far more often in the 90s. Technically, the commission is supposed to meet once a year, and its approval is needed before contemplated highway projects can be advanced to the state Legislature.

Yet despite those rules, the state Legislature does have the power to advance highway projects on its own. But it has taken that step only once in the past five years. The 2019-2021 budget includes money for the engineering and environmental work needed for a planned expansion of I-41 between Appleton and De Pere.

The bipartisan Transportation Projects Commission is made up of 15 members — five from the State Assembly and Senate, three citizen members, the WisDOT secretary and governor. A WisDOT spokesperson didn’t respond to a message seeking comment. Six members of the commission reached out to for comment did not return messages by press time.

In a WisDOT podcast released in August, Craig Thompson, WisDOT secretary-designee, and Gov. Tony Evers each said the Transportation Projects Commission is needed for planning of some of the most important highway projects in the state.

“We need to be consistent in our approach and the commission is one way to do that,” Evers said, comparing the commission’s role to that of the State Building Commission, which reviews capital projects after they’ve been added to the state budget.

Thompson, who has said he’d like to reconvene the commission, said its job isn’t to simply rubber-stamp highway projects but to look at the state’s transportation networks in a comprehensive way.

“These are the projects where we’re are going to be adding capacity,” he said on WisDOT’s podcast. “The public wants to know, are we really looking forward, are we thinking about that.”

Although the commission hasn’t met in years, it has continued to provide reports about certain highway projects. According to the most recent of these, released in August, three projects will remain on hold “indefinitely” until the commission can consider them: a 15-mile expansion of U.S. Highway 14 from Janesville to I-43; the reconstruction of U.S. Highway 12 at the Fort Atkinson bypass and the reconstruction of U.S. Highway 12 between Elkhorn and Whitewater.

Meanwhile, state officials have had to cancel a proposed study for a project to rebuild Interstate 39/90 from Madison to the Wisconsin Dells; any future projects along that corridor will now need a new environmental review, according to the Transportation Projects Commission’s report.

Traas said the strong economy of recent years and growth of cities like Madison will most likely have long-term implications for the state’s highway system, and the TPC’s inaction has meant that Wisconsin’s hasn’t studied how it might best respond to these changes.

“If they don’t meet, they never talk about future congestion or other trends,” Traas said. Follow @natebeck9