Creating a tolling collection system in Wisconsin would send the worst possible signal to the habitual state over-spenders and false reckless stewards of the public's money.
It would enable and accelerate all the negative consequences of unchecked major highway construction and expansion - - suburban sprawl, urban disregard and the separation of workers from jobs, the loss of open space in and near transportation corridors, the starvation of transit as the population ages and millennial eschew car ownership, the deepening of the road-builders' sway over state officials, budgets and policy.
Do you know that the state has already been caught cooking the books to justify spending unnecessary millions to widen State Highway 23 near Plymouth and 164 north of I-94 through Waukesha County into Washington County?
Had there been a bottomless pot of toll dollars to tap, those unneeded new lanes and fancy exits built on taxable property and private land taken through pressure or eminent domain would have already been laid down with very little traffic to use them instead of being barred by a federal judge after litigation
Do you hear one word about any transit commitment from the current regime which has already killed Amtrak to Madison, a connection with Midwest High-Speed Rail and regional transit authorities which could coordinate such things and give the public some options?
And from what source would come the three or four hundred million dollars needed to create the tolling system?
You steal several dollars from every motorist driving every time in one direction alone from Milwaukee to Madison, or Waukesha to a Packers game in Green Bay, or Elkhorn to the Wisconsin Dells and Wisconsin's politicians will let the road-builders spend it on more concrete and highway add-ons that you can imagine.
Forever.
It would enable and accelerate all the negative consequences of unchecked major highway construction and expansion - - suburban sprawl, urban disregard and the separation of workers from jobs, the loss of open space in and near transportation corridors, the starvation of transit as the population ages and millennial eschew car ownership, the deepening of the road-builders' sway over state officials, budgets and policy.
Do you know that the state has already been caught cooking the books to justify spending unnecessary millions to widen State Highway 23 near Plymouth and 164 north of I-94 through Waukesha County into Washington County?
Had there been a bottomless pot of toll dollars to tap, those unneeded new lanes and fancy exits built on taxable property and private land taken through pressure or eminent domain would have already been laid down with very little traffic to use them instead of being barred by a federal judge after litigation
Do you hear one word about any transit commitment from the current regime which has already killed Amtrak to Madison, a connection with Midwest High-Speed Rail and regional transit authorities which could coordinate such things and give the public some options?
And from what source would come the three or four hundred million dollars needed to create the tolling system?
You steal several dollars from every motorist driving every time in one direction alone from Milwaukee to Madison, or Waukesha to a Packers game in Green Bay, or Elkhorn to the Wisconsin Dells and Wisconsin's politicians will let the road-builders spend it on more concrete and highway add-ons that you can imagine.
Forever.