October 2, 2026

By Lane Kimble

KOHLER — Most presentations about transportation projects and funding don’t begin with quotes from literary classics.

Leave it to Steve Baas to set the stage for his seminar during ARTBA’s National Convention this week with the opening line from Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.”

The juxtaposition of “the best of times… the worst of times… the age of wisdom… the age of foolishness…” dovetailed into Baas’ tale of two projects: I-94 North-South vs. I-94 East-West.

“I wanted to send the message that we need to get better at telling our own story,” Baas explained. “Language matters in how we put forward the benefits and opportunities that come along with road building.”

The state’s $1.58 billion investment in North-South has paid off many times over, Baas told the Contractors Division Meeting.

Property values along the 35-mile corridor between Milwaukee and the Illinois state line surged by $11 billion, according to HNTB research. The expansion and reconstruction attracted companies such as Microsoft, Haribo, Uline, and Amazon.

Additionally, crash and injury rates have all fallen by double-digit percentages since the massive project was completed.

East-West, meanwhile, has been delayed, revived, finally started, but now faces possible construction extensions while the overall cost has increased since the project was first considered ten years ago.

Baas urged attendees to push for strong, reliable transportation funding at the state and federal levels to keep projects on-schedule, on-budget, and on track to improve the cities and communities they serve.

“These are the economic backbone, they are the table stakes of any state or nation’s economy,” Baas said.

“We’ve gotta be less bashful about that and we’ve got to learn to talk about the development impacts we have in transportation the same way that condo builders and stadium builders talk about the economic developments and the programs they go to the government for help with.”