Finance Committee Delays Highway Projects To Balance Transportation Budget

Wisconsin’s transportation fund would be left with just a $5 million balance under a plan approved by the Joint Finance Committee last night.

Lawmakers delayed some major highway interchange projects in order to erase a previously forecast deficit of about $60 million. State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) co-chairs the budget committee.

“It’s been done in a very reasonable way, and I think it balances a lot of the issues that are of concern to us like the cost, the bonding, the fairness.”

The plan received a unanimous vote after it was amended to increase funding for mass transit by about 4 percent. Mass transit would still be moved out of the state’s transportation budget and into the general fund, which pays for things like schools and health care.