http://www.jsonline.com/traffic/news/aug03/163212.aspSeeking road funds, state plans toll studyOfficials in Milwaukee area criticize conceptBy LARRY SANDLER
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Quotable
We don't put up tollbooths and pretend we're
Illinois. 
Busalacchi is not endorsing tolls but believes the idea "shouldn't automatically be discarded" when state officials know that existing gas taxes and license fees are insufficient to pay for all of the road work that has been proposed, his executive assistant, Randy Romanski, said Monday.
"We need to continue to have an open dialogue," Romanski said. "We need to consider all the options."
Like previous toll road ideas, however, this one drew swift criticism from Milwaukee-area leaders. And legislators on both sides of the issue said serious questions remain over whether federal law would allow tolls on existing interstate highways built with federal money.
Former state legislator Kevin Soucie, the leading proponent of the tollway idea, said further debate is likely when he testifies Wednesday before the Senate Transportation Committee.
Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley said of the idea: "It will never fly. The people of Wisconsin are not accepting of tolls. The state is going to have to find another way."
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker said tolls are unpopular in the Chicago area and would discourage tourism here.
Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist and state Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) also would oppose highway tolls, particularly if they are charged only in the Milwaukee area, said Stone and Jim Rowen, Norquist's policy chief.
"There are not going to be tolls in the Milwaukee area only," said Stone, who helps draft the transportation budget for the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee.
Even one lawmaker who's willing to consider tolls - Rep. John Ainsworth (R-Shawano), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee - conceded that regional divisions would likely be an issue.
"Folks from Superior and Ashland would react very well to tolls in Milwaukee, and vice versa," Ainsworth said. But he added, "Nothing happens without someone sacrificing."
Federal law an issue
Federal law also could block the toll idea, Ainsworth and Stone said.
Although federal law allows interstate highway tolls in limited circumstances, such as to pay for high-cost bridge projects, the law would have to change significantly to allow tolls on existing interstates, Stone said.
In Illinois, the toll roads were built first, then converted to interstate highways and grandfathered.
Wisconsin law has allowed tolls since 1953. But that law has never been used because a public outcry is raised whenever anyone suggests charging tolls, Finley noted.
Rowen predicted that the tollway idea would die and leave the state no option but to raise gas taxes to pay for the freeway reconstruction plan, which Norquist opposes.
"That's how we pay for roads in Wisconsin," Rowen said. "We don't put up tollbooths and pretend we're Illinois."
Illinois-style tollbooths, however, are not likely to pop up even if the state imposes tolls, authorities said. The more likely collection method, according to a study last year by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, would be an electronic system.
Under such systems, regular users have devices in their cars that record when they pass certain points, similar to the I-PASS for Chicago-area tollways, while cameras snap pictures of visitors' license plates. Computers then calculate the tolls and mail bills to drivers. The system lets authorities charge higher tolls in rush hours than in less congested times.
The tollway study, which Soucie co-authored, says the state should let a private company rebuild downtown Milwaukee's Marquette Interchange and charge tolls to pay for the $810 million job. Lawmakers asked Busalacchi about that idea last week, when he was discussing plans for rebuilding the interchange with Ainsworth's panel.
Busalacchi said the 2003-'05 state budget set up a financing plan for the crossroads of I-94, I-43 and I-794, and with preliminary work starting next year, it was too late to change that, according to Romanski. But Busalacchi has talked with Soucie and believes the tollway idea could be studied for the future, Romanski said.
Romanski declined to predict how long his department might study the toll road concept. He said financing discussions would be premature until state planners finish reviewing the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission's freeway reconstruction plan.
Doyle uncommitted
Gov. Jim Doyle's administration has not taken any definitive position on the freeway plan, which recommends upgrading all 270 miles of the area freeway system, with new lanes on 127 miles, as they are rebuilt over the next 30 years.
Norquist, environmentalists and freeway neighbors particularly oppose the proposed expansion of I-94 and I-43 to eight lanes in most of Milwaukee County, partly because it would raze numerous homes and businesses. Walker and Finley support freeway expansion, which they consider vital for economic development.
If tolls are ruled out, Finley said his first choice to pay for the freeway overhaul was to readjust priorities among other state highway projects. Romanski said that idea was likely to stir controversy in the Legislature, judging from the opposition to delaying projects in Doyle's 2003-'05 budget. In the end, no projects were delayed.
Finley also said state officials should try to find more federal aid - including the $91.5 million now reserved for an electric bus system in the Milwaukee area.
That money has been frozen 12 years because of disagreements over whether to use it for light rail or other projects. Walker opposes using it for an electric bus system. Norquist has suggested using it to help extend Chicago's Metra commuter trains from Kenosha to Racine and Milwaukee, but Walker fears that might not be legal.
Norquist would oppose using the money for freeways, Rowen said. And Walker said Congress would not let the money sit another 12 years until the freeways are rebuilt.
Walker said he supported Stone's plan to shift sales tax revenue from automobile sales out of the state's general fund and into the transportation fund. Doyle vetoed that budget provision because he feared it would lead to more deficits in the general fund.
Of Walker and Finley, Rowen said, "They want something they can't afford."
