Lane Kimble

Work Zone Awareness Week coming April 21; WisDOT holding kickoff event

April 9, 2025 by Lane Kimble

The risk the men and women who build and maintain our roads and bridges face every day became especially apparent in 2024.

Two construction workers from WTBA companies were hit and killed in separate crashes last season. Preliminary data from the Wisconsin State Patrol shows 10 people–many of them drivers–were killed in the more than 2,100 work zone crashes in Wisconsin in 2024.

It’s why WTBA and WisDOT are urging all drivers to pay special attention and care while driving through work zones, not only during this month’s national Work Zone Awareness Week but all season long.

Wisconsin will hold its local 2025 awareness week kickoff event along I-90/94 near Madison on Monday, April 21 at 11 a.m. WTBA members are encouraged to attend.

Please contact Lane Kimble for details if you’d like to show your support.

WTBA has worked with WisDOT to coordinate five regional work zone safety events throughout the 2025 season for the third straight year, helping keep work zone safety top of mind during spring, summer, and fall.

Details about this year’s events will be available as they get closer.

Laying the Groundwork: Baas, Nelson join TDA at D.C. Fly-In for Congressional discussions

April 4, 2025 by Lane Kimble

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The quote is about 2,500 years old but the message is as relevant now as ever.

“Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.”

Duly noted, Sun Tzu.

WTBA put in critical work this week in Washington, D.C., more than a year before Congress needs to reauthorize the five-year plan to pay for our nation’s roads, bridges, and infrastructure.

Executive Director Steve Baas and Director of Government Affairs Elise Nelson joined industry partner Transportation Development Association (TDA) for its 2025 Washington, D.C. Fly-In.

Over the course of two days, they heard from and spoke with a bipartisan assortment of Wisconsin’s delegation including Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congressmen Bryan Steil and Tony Wied.

Wied (R-Green Bay) is Wisconsin’s newest member of Congress and serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He gave Work Zone Safe Wisconsin a shout-out during a hearing in February.

Baas, Nelson, and attendees also met with other Wisconsin Congressional members on Capitol Hill during office visits Thursday.

The fly-in group included WisDOT Secretary Kristina Boardman and representatives from labor, contractors and local governments.

“Reauthorization may be a year off, but the product Congress delivers in 2026 is going to be informed and shaped by discussions we are having in 2025,” Baas said.

“Events like this ensure we are at the table instead of on the menu as those decisions are made.”

WTBA applauds its partners at TDA for organizing an impactful and busy visit to the nation’s capital, helping keep transportation top of mind among federal decision makers.

New WTBA Board President joins the pod (Episode 2 out today!)

April 4, 2025 by Lane Kimble

Having freshly turned 40, Dan Zignego has already accomplished a lot in his life. He’s happily married, is president of a major player in the concrete paving industry, and just became the new WTBA Board president.

Still, Zignego is driven by one main thing: to be as successful as possible.

How do chickens, ice cream cones and ballroom dancing figure into that calculus? And what does he think about his friends in the asphalt world? Listen to the latest Road Trippin’ With WTBA podcast to find out!

Lane and Steve hit the road to talk with Dan in Zignego’s new Waukesha offices.

You can find this and all other (OK, there’s only one other for now…) Road Trippin’ episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Just search “WTBA.”

Duffy tells Senate Committee it’s time to ‘cut the red tape’ to get transportation projects going

April 3, 2025 by Lane Kimble

Most jobs give you a little time to settle in, train, and get up to speed.

Not so for Sean Duffy. He has a backlog of more than 3,200 potential construction projects across the country waiting for the federal government to sign off and allow shovels to hit the dirt.

The new USDOT secretary isn’t blinking – he’s already rolling up his sleeves.

“I know you all want the projects done, I want the projects done,” Duffy told the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Wednesday.

“What’s great is that the president loves infrastructure. He wants big, beautiful roads and bridges. And so it’s not just you putting pressure on me, it’s the president who’s going to say, ‘Why aren’t you getting more money out the door? Get these projects done!’”

Duffy’s testimony this week comes as Congress is starting early work on reauthorizing the five-year Surface Transportation Act. The latest version, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, provided states with more than a trillion dollars for roads, highways, rail, and infrastructure. It expires in 2026.

BIL, which former President Biden signed into law in 2021, has been fast to announce but slow to actually award grants (which need signed agreements before states can put them to use), creating that “historic” backlog, Duffy says.

“It’s easy to blow the kazoo and send up the balloons when you announce a project,” Duffy told the committee. “The hard work is actually doing the grant agreement.”

Duffy wants to streamline the permitting process for federally supported large-scale transportation construction work, while ensuring projects aren’t delayed by the addition of rules or orders Congress never intended with BIL.

“Let’s do it efficiently. Let’s cut the red tape,” Duffy said. “We can still protect the environment, but let’s move these projects faster.”