The manufactured and modular housing industry depends on good roads to transport homes throughout the Midwest. Unfortunately for Wisconsin, the roads are deteriorating rapidly. Wisconsin Housing Alliance, along with many other industries, is always an advocate for a solution to the lack of transportation funding.
The Legislative Audit Bureau has completed the audit of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Their findings concluded that change is needed.
Here is what the audit told us:
• The department did not solicit multiple bidders for certain projects – 363 projects only had one company bidding.
• The number of highways rated as “good” has decreased from 53.5% to 41%, which is below the national average.
• It’s estimated that cost overruns are close to $3.1 billion from enumeration to August 2016 for 16 ongoing major highway projects.
• The debt service for cost of projects has increased 168% since 1999.
It’s clear Wisconsin is trying to do too much with too little and taxpayers are not getting their money’s worth. Another item worth noting is that if all recommendations from the audit are taken, there would only be a yearly savings of $42.8 million, or roughly two percent of the annual DOT budget. While $42.8 million a year is nothing to ignore, legislators really need to get working on finding a solution before Wisconsin roads get even worse.
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