Group says Wisconsin roads are third-worst in nation

State DOT, of course, disagrees

A report has pegged Wisconsin’s roads third-worst in the nation.

Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation, however, says that’s inaccurate.

To get that ranking, the American Society of Civil Engineers report categorized 71 percent the state’s roads in mediocre or worse condition.

How it came up with 71 percent, though, the DOT says was an inaccurate measure that gauges just part of the condition of roadways. A measure, it says, isn’t commonly used.

That measure was the “roughness index.”

So, the two organizations, of course, come up with some wildly different numbers. Combating the engineers’ 71 percent is the DOT measure that says 86 percent of state highways, and 91 percent of local roadways, rate at fair-and-above condition.