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A push to fix Milwaukee streets
Milwaukee streets are aging faster than the city can afford to repair them, and one alderman said it's an issue that might not be going away.
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee streets are aging faster than the city can afford to repair them.
One Milwaukee alderman said it's an issue that might not be going away because the state is shorting the city the money to fix it.
What we know:
The city says a recent study by the Department of Public Works found 25% of roadways in Milwaukee were in poor condition.
Road or roller coaster, Kiara Lumpkins said that sometimes it's hard to tell the difference in Milwaukee.
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"I remember driving on 60th [...] used to turn and go up, like airborne. It was so bad," she said. "I wish I had my friend on the phone. She has potholes."
Potholes and aging roads are something Alderman Peter Burgelis said the city wants to fix.
"Constituents say number one priority, top concern, is public safety," Burgelis said. "Number two – a very close second is fixing the damn roads […] Drive down a street in Milwaukee and you can understand how frustrating it is when we are paying our fair share of taxes, but we are not getting our fair share of revenue back from the state."
Burgelis is talking specifically about the amount of money allocated in the state budget to transportation and infrastructure in Milwaukee.
"10% of sales tax comes from Milwaukee, but we are getting half of that back for general transportation aid and state aid to municipalities to improve their local roads," he said.
Dig deeper:
Wisconsin Policy Forum President Jason Stein explained that the state transportation budget formula is like a pie.
"Helping fund roads in the state including at the local level. That includes 3% year increases in general transportation aids that go out to all municipalities and counties in the state," he said. "The pie is getting bigger – but those smaller communities are going to get a bigger chunk of it [...] A lot of the town roads in Wisconsin, those smaller communities - are also in really bad position. So there’s genuinely competing needs here that I think the average person would be sympathetic to both of them."
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The city plans to explore alternative local funding mechanisms to maintain the roads.
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Policy Forum said the state budget did give a significant financial boost for Milwaukee County.
The Source: The information in this post was collected and produced by FOX6 News.