Sunk Costs: $1 Million in Federal Highway Money to Exhibit Shipwreck Sites in Lake Michigan -- Update

Gary North - August 27, 2018

The following is a press release. It comes from the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The Society will receive nearly $1 million in federal funding to help pay for installation of exhibits at the new Learning and Visitor Center at Wade House and to conduct archaeological surveys of five historic Lake Michigan shipwreck sites. The Society expects both projects to enhance local heritage tourism opportunities.

Local tourism. Yes! From across America, people will come to the Visitor Center at Wade House to learn about sunk ships. I can see it now!

If you sink it, they will come!

Where did the money come from? Who wants to increase the public’s awareness of sunken ships? The Federal Highway Administration.

The funding comes from the Federal Highway Administration’s Transportation Enhancement program. It will come in the form of reimbursements administered by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation after the two projects’ completion. The funds support qualifying projects that fit one of 12 criteria relating to surface transportation.

Apparently, the two organizations want to remind voters of the terrible risks associated with water-based transportation.

About $170,000 “will support the Society’s underwater archaeology program with a project called Wisconsin’s Historic Shipwrecks: Documenting and Promoting our Maritime Past. The project will involve conducting archaeological surveys of five shipwrecks, one pictured here, that represent a cross section of historically significant vessel types that have sailed Wisconsin waters.”

This will probably create a response from the Department of Lake Management, which will put up money for a museum exhibit of 15-car freeway pile-ups.

Archaeological documentation of the shipwrecks will allow for their nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, providing the sites with additional layers of legal protection. The project will also develop educational and outreach materials as well as historic markers using data and images collected during the surveys. Those data and images will also document the sites on two websites: wisconsinshipwrecks.org and maritimetrails.org.

Finally, the project will result in the addition of state-sponsored mooring buoys to mark the five sites and promote visitation by divers while protecting the sites from improper anchoring techniques.

And you thought government bureaucrats waste your money.

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Published on May 16, 2012. The original is here.

There is no trace on the Web of this press release, other than on the original Tea Party Economist page.

I investigated. Here is the Visitor Center at Wade House. It cost $12 million. It is in an otherwise empty field.

Here is what visitors see.

Projects designed to enhance “heritage tourism” in Wisconsin received a $970,000 boost this month from federal grants aimed at preservation efforts above ground and under water.

Because the money comes from transportation sources and is required to be used for “surface transportation,” among other criteria, the Wisconsin Historical Society is channeling it to horse-drawn carriages and sunken ships.

The five ships involved plied the surface of Lake Michigan but sunk between 1880 and 1932.

It now costs lots of money to staff the facility and cool it. No heat required. It closes in October. It was originally scheduled to operate year-round. (If this page disappears, go here.) It never did. It closes from mid-October until late May. This reduces traffic.

It is open for six hours a day: 10 AM to 4 PM. This is when most men are at work, except on weekends. This reduces traffic.

And all it cost was $12 million, plus annual maintenance, salaries, insurance, utilities, and assorted miscellaneous expenses.

I was unable to find out what the annual budget is. I was unable to find out what the annual attendance is. Both are needed to find out what the annual expenditure is per visitor.