Weekly Fiscal Facts are provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. The Wisconsin Policy Forum logo can be downloaded here.
The overall quality of Wisconsin’s paved local roads has deteriorated modestly since 2010, with Milwaukee having especially poor local road conditions relative to most of the state’s large cities.
At a statewide level, local roads in Wisconsin, on average, remain in relatively good condition. Still, this decline may underscore challenges with how the state funds local roads.
To measure road quality, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation uses a 10-point scale for paved roads, called the “Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating” system. On this scale, the quality of paved local roads has fallen from an average statewide rating of 6.6 in 2010 to 6.2 in 2023. During the period from 2010 to 2023, the share of local roads statewide in excellent or very good condition declined from 34.4% to 24.9%. The share of roads in good or fair condition increased from 58.2% to 65.1%, and the share in poor, very poor, or failed condition increased from 7.3% to 10%.
Looking at individual communities, southeast Wisconsin stands out: Milwaukee and the state’s fourth- and seventh-largest cities, Kenosha and Waukesha, have poorer average local road quality than other large cities. Among the state’s 25 most populous municipalities, Milwaukee’s average road quality (5.08) ranks 23rd, above only Waukesha and Kenosha (both 4.96).
Looking at the share of road segments rated less than 4 – “poor,” “very poor,” or “failed” – paints a similar picture. Milwaukee is the only one of the 25 most populous communities in which a rating of poor or worse has been assigned to more than a third of recently rated road segments. Beloit, West Allis, and Kenosha have more than one-fifth of their roads in this category.
More than two-thirds of municipalities have roads with average ratings of between 5 and 7. Roads in Appleton (7.65) have the highest average rating among the state’s 25 largest municipalities, while Wauwatosa (7.35), Eau Claire (7.19), and Oshkosh (7.06) also fare well. All counties had an average road rating between 5 and 7 except Price, lowest in the state at 4.85. Door County, with an average rating of 6.90, had the highest-rated roads.
Our analysis also examined local road spending trends. Between 2010 and 2022, the most recent year for which these data are available, total local government spending on road construction increased by an average annual rate of 4.8% per year, slightly outpacing the 4.2% annual growth in DOT’s road construction cost index. Yet local spending on road maintenance during this period increased by an average annual rate of just 1.9%. Lower maintenance spending may help balance local budgets in the short term, but it is likely adding to road construction costs in the future.
For local roads, the picture already may be improving, especially for towns. The 2023-25 budget provided $250 million in supplemental aid for local roads, largely for improving town roads. A large increase in state shared revenue aid to local governments, provided by 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, also was especially generous to Wisconsin towns.
Cities and villages also benefitted from the Act 12 funding increases, but to a far lesser extent. A number of cities – such as Janesville, Madison, and Waukesha – did not see a major boost in shared revenue from Act 12. This could put some local governments in a difficult position of having to choose between addressing declining road quality, public safety, or other local priorities.
This information is a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. Learn more at wispolicyforum.org.
