Frederica Freyberg:
Last week we told you how greater fuel efficiency has led to a shortage in the gas tax that pays for new highways and upkeep on the state’s older roads. As pothole season nears, the idea is how to fix the funding problem, Here and Now’s Art Hackett reports. There's a disconnect over the roads that connect us.

Art Hackett:
Last week we told you about work on the Zoo Interchange in Milwaukee. Because several of the Zoo's bridges are dangerously decayed. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is in the midst of a $15.3 million emergency project to replace them.

Ryan Luck:
Not something we look forward to doing obviously. In this case, this is an emergency bridge replacement. We always would like to hope that things, the deterioration for large interchanges would be timed exactly right when we rebuild.

Art Hackett:
But this time, the timing didn't work out. When the entire interchange is rebuilt, which is scheduled for the not too distant future, the temporary bridges will be torn down and replaced.

Ryan Luck:
These are big decisions on our infrastructure investments.

Art Hackett:
DOT engineer Ryan Luck says even if the state had the money to do the whole project now, the plans just aren't ready. But critics of the state's highway habit say the money for the Zoo would have been there today if the DOT hadn't overbuilt other projects like the Marquette Interchange near downtown.

Steve Hiniker:
It's kind of like wanting to lose weight but not wanting to go on a diet or exercise. Somehow, something will have the magic pill for us.

Art Hackett:
Why is that?

Steve Hiniker:
It's the political will. I mean, we'll let somebody else raise the taxes and let them take the heat. So you get somebody in the state Legislature saying, ‘We're not going to raise the taxes. That's up to Congress.’ Yet Congress is sitting there saying, ‘We're not going to raise taxes, this is a local problem.’

Art Hackett:
But several legislators are taking another look at how we pay for highways or at least ask the legislative council to do it. Sen. Jim Sullivan from Wauwatosa is one of them, though he knows the options are few.

Jim Sullivan:
Right now there are a number of things that I think are politically non-starters. Gas tax indexing is a non-starter, I don’t expect the Legislature to come back and reconsider that. I think just a straight-up gas tax increase is going to be an unpopular thing as well. In the meantime, I think tolls, frankly for me, for this legislator, it's something that I'd consider.

John Townsend:
One thing to do is take serious consideration to toll roads. Particularly as our transportation needs to expand.

Art Hackett:
Rep. Townsend says the state should also explore a mileage-based tax using GPS-based systems. Think of your electronic tollway pass combined with your navigation system.

John Townsend:
When I read, if you really want to implement this, maybe you can abolish the fuel tax all together, pay based upon miles. And you could also very easily tie that in in terms of the weight of the vehicle.

Art Hackett:
And not everyone agrees the state needs more money for roads. Steve Hiniker of the environmental group 1000 Friends of Wisconsin says the system may be broken, but few have shown interest in fixing it.

Steve Hiniker:
If we continue with the projects that are in the books, the public will have to have the appetite for a huge tax increase. I don't think it's there.

Steve Hiniker:
The problem with highway funding and spending is, it's very complex. The people that know it can gain it. Whether the road builders or engineers, all these firms are getting very rich off of our system. And it's so complex that anybody that just wants to go in and fix it quickly gets lost.

Art Hackett:
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation's latest long-range plan, Connections 2030, says the gasoline tax may not be a viable source of revenue into the future. But it makes no recommendation for an immediate increase in the gas tax. The DOT is also on record against tolls. The DOT declined to provide a spokesman to be interviewed for this segment.

John Townsend:
I'm not telling you to knock the DOT, but what I’ve found in the six terms I've been elected in the state Assembly, the bureaucracy doesn't want to rock the boat. They take a cautious approach to this.

Jim Sullivan:
I think the DOT is probably reacting to the fact that we are between a proverbial rock and a hard place. People want the transportation infrastructure, and people want to make sure — I've been pushing this Zoo Interchange issue for a long time. People want the infrastructure, they want the roads. They need that. However, nobody wants to pay for it.

Steve Hiniker:
If our needs are more than what we have, then it's up to the policy makers to sell that tax increase. Right now, I think that's a pretty tough game. People don't believe that we don't have enough. We're spending billions every year on roads in the state. Somehow we have to increase taxes?

Art Hackett:
The problem is the main source of revenue, the gas tax, is running out of gas.

Mark Gottlieb:
The problem with the motor fuel tax is obviously you'll start to have people driving plug-in electric vehicles that don't pay any gas tax. Vehicles are generally much more fuel efficient. So long-term, I think most people are, the fuel tax as a primary source, it's not sustainable.

Art Hackett:
Every time a new Prius hits the streets, a road builder cries.

Frederica Freyberg:
That was Art Hackett reporting.