Pork Anyone? 

The Journal has a regularly featured column every week called Road Warrior. Larry Sandler answers questions from people about construction and traffic issues, and also highlights interesting news and upcoming projects. It's actually a pretty useful column, and is written to be pretty fun. Recently he wrote about new bike lanes that are being painted on many local streets:

Q. I noticed what appear to be new bike lanes on Oakland Ave. from Shorewood to about Locust St. However, these new side lanes aren't labeled or very continuous. Could you tell me what the plan is?

A. The plan is to finish those lanes - which weren't competed last week - as part of the biggest expansion of bicycle lanes in Milwaukee history, says Mike Loughran, chief planning and development engineer for the city Department of Public Works.

By the end of this summer, the city will have added 25 miles of bike lanes, more than doubling the 15 miles previously in place, Loughran said.

Most of that expansion, 23 miles, is included in a $100,000 project that is 80% funded by the federal government, guided by recommendations developed by the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, he said.

Hold on there skippy. $80,000 from the federal government for lines on local streets? Are you kidding me? This is why I get pissed at guys like Sensenbrenner. This is the sort of pork that doesn't belong in highway bills. I know that it benefits me... but I don't care. If the city wanted more bike lanes, let the city pay for it. Some guy in Montanna doesn't need to help fun lines on streets in Milwaukee.