At today’s meeting of the Common Council’s Judiciary and Legislation Committee, Council members heard directly from the City’s Intergovernmental Relations Division about the ongoing challenges posed by the State of Wisconsin’s 2025–27 budget. Once again, the state budget fails to provide the City of Milwaukee with adequate support to address its mounting transportation infrastructure crisis.
A recent assessment by the Department of Public Works (DPW) reveals that approximately 1,370 lane miles of city streets (25% of all roadways) are in poor condition. Despite this, Milwaukee’s share of General Transportation Aids (GTA) for 2025 will decrease slightly to $26.5 million, representing less than 5% of the state’s $547 million GTA program despite Milwaukee accounting for nearly 10% of Wisconsin’s fuel-tax-paying, electric-vehicle-fee-paying, and sales-tax-paying taxpayers and over 5,000 lane miles.
“The Common Council is taking this issue seriously because the numbers are unsustainable,” said Alderman Peter Burgelis. “Today’s briefing only confirmed what we’ve been experiencing firsthand, our local streets are aging faster than we can afford to repair them, and the State continues to shortchange its largest city and economic engine.”
To simply maintain existing pavement conditions, DPW estimates that $60 million annually is required. To eliminate the current backlog of poor-quality streets, the City would need a staggering $821 million, with more than $750 million needed for local and collector streets. These are the very roads most used by residents but ineligible for federal aid.
While other municipalities receive more robust assistance per capita, Milwaukee continues to receive just $1 million every other year from the State’s Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP), covering only a fraction of 1% of actual need.
“Milwaukee’s local road network is a backbone of economic activity and daily life,” Burgelis added. “We’re left with limited funding tools and outdated state formulas that reward suburban expansion and penalize urban density.”
The City has explored alternative local funding mechanisms, including a modest vehicle registration fee and future transportation utility models, but remains constrained without meaningful state allocations that are proportional to what Milwaukee taxpayers send to Madison.
“It’s time for a serious conversation in Madison about how we fund local infrastructure in a way that meets real quality of life needs,” said Burgelis. “Milwaukee cannot keep doing more with less while driving on cracked pavement.”
The Council continues to push for systemic reform in how state transportation dollars are distributed and will advocate for changes to ensure that every community, especially one as vital as Milwaukee, receives the resources needed to maintain safe, functional streets.
