1998 Q. Rep. Petri, since your last radio program Congress passed a major new highway funding bill. As Chairman of the House Surface Transportation Subcommittee, as Vice Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and as a member of the Conference Committee which negotiated the differences between the original House and Senate highway bills, you played a key role. Well, businesses depend on efficient access to suppliers and markets, and working people need safe and reliable routes to their jobs. That's why 86 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin in 1996 were located within five miles of major highways.
Economic growth requires efficient transportation.
The new highway program costs a lot of money, but it's absolutely necessary to keep the economy growing and to make sure that businesses can grow in rural areas as well as suburbs and the big cities. The bridge to the 21st Century will be built with concrete and asphalt. The new highway program means jobs and prosperity. We get a lot, frankly. Under the new highway program, Wisconsin's federal highway funds will rise by 48 percent.