EXECUTIVE BRANCH

nearly 100,000 miles of road. Almost 350 miles were part of the interstate
system of controlled access high speed roads with 4 or more lanes. The state
trunk highway system measured 11,736 miles and nearly the entire system
was bituminous or concrete pavement. City and village streets account for
another 10,526 miles of the total.
On the state level, road construction and repair is financed entirely out of
user taxes and federal aids based on federal highway user taxes. The invest-
ment of money represented by our modern highway system staggers the im-
agination-as a rule of thumb, the 4-lane interstate highways cost a million
dollars a mile. Consistently, expenditures for highways are one of the 2 larg-
est items in the state's budget (the other is education).
Airport Development. In 1965, Wisconsin had a total of 129 airports and
7 seaplane bases, of which 79 airports and 5 seaplane bases were municipal.
The state itself does not own any airports, but assists local governments in
the development of their airport facilities; the state aerovautics law envisions
that eventually each of Wisconsin's counties will have at least one airport. In
1966, Wisconsin was served by 5 airlines with regularly scheduled flights to
12 commercial airports.
Although the State of Wisconsin does not own any airports, it has over the
years invested a sizeable amount of funds and effort in the development of
the state-wide airport system. State funds for airport development come
from registration fees on aircraft, airline property taxes and unrefunded avia-
tion gasoline taxes, but the major share of the costs of airport development is
carried by federal funds and by the money contributed by the municipal or
private sponsors. The state is authorized to contribute to airport develop-
ment up to 50% of any costs not paid by the federal government, but not ex-
ceeding $30,000 per project.
Transportation Administration. A number of different state'hIgencies are
involved in matters of transportation. We have already discussed the Public
Service Commission, which regulates railroads, trucks, motor companies
and-these too are forms of transportation-pipelines and electric transmis-
sion lines.
The biggest Wisconsin state agency which deals exclusively with transpor-
tation matters is the Highway Commission with 1,912 employes and a bien-
nial 1965-67 budget of $300,000 from general tax revenues, $295.6 million
from segregated motor vehicle fuel taxes and other earmarked funds, and
$116 million in anticipated federal aids. In fact, state expenditures for high-
ways are only exceeded by state expenditures for education. Of the total
$411.9 million, only a little over $11 million is actually spent on operating
the highway department and paying the salaries of its engineers and other
employes; nearly the entire appropriation goes for the construction and
maintenance of state highways and for assistance to counties, towns and cit-
ies in maintaining their roads and connecting streets.
The Motor Vehicle Department is smaller. It has a biennial budget of $21
million, raised entirely from motor fuel taxes and other motor vehicle reve-
nues. But, because this is the department which issues the automobile regis-
tration plates, licenses drivers, and operates the State Patrol, nearly every
adult citizen of Wisconsin has had personal dealings with the department.
All activities of Wisconsin state government in the field of air transporta-
tion are conducted by the Aeronautics Commission. The commission has an
authorized staff of 15 employes and a 1965-67 budget of $472,100 financed
entirely from registration fees on aircraft, airline property taxes and unre-
funded aviation gasoline taxes. Revenues from these sources in excess of the
commission's administrative budget are used for airport construction; in
1965-67 these amount to about $328,000. In addition to its state-funded

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