WPRI is at it again!

WPRI. (Wisconsin’s Phony Research Institute) a supposed “free market” think(term used loosely) tank. Now they are advocating that Wisconsin start phasing in toll roads.

All highways wear out over time, despite ongoing maintenance. Over the next 30 years, most of Wisconsin’s Interstate system will exceed its nominal 50-to 60-year design life and will need complete reconstruction. When that point is reached, it makes sense to update designs to current safety and operational standards, as was done recently in the reconstruction of the Marquette interchange. And in corridors where demand is projected to exceed capacity, resulting in heavy congestion, it makes sense to add lanes.

Of course if the tank was serious about thinking, when highways are over capacity, alternate forms of travel would be advanced. Of course we have come to not really expect honesty from the WPRI, but what we should not expect though is that the the Wisconsin State Journal, would help advance the WPRI “tax the middle class more” agenda with a curiously timed pro-toll opinion piece. Scott Milfred was not alone, the Wisconsin State Journal also backed up the WPRI piece with a story in the paper(which I no longer subscribe to, for reasons such as this).

One of the reasons that they(wpri and WSJ) are pushing the added taxes on the middle class is laughable:

But, instead of toll booths staffed with workers, metal and plastic baskets to throw change into, and traffic jams at toll plazas, vehicles would not be forced to stop thanks to high-tech cameras and automatic sensors that would be used to collect fees from motorists, according to the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

So it is a good idea because, we no longer need to employ Wisconsinites to collect tolls, we can now use a computer and suck money “conveniently” from your bank account.

Some questions to ask (since the Wisconsin State Journal only parrots never asks):
Why does a “free market” think(term used loosely) tank want to add this tax on the middle class and work on handcuffing tourism? Because toll roads are the first step to privatizing our roadways.

Does anyone who has ever driven the Illinois tollways think their roads are better than the Wisconsin Highways?

Can you really be against raising taxes and for tolls?

Can you work hard to end the train upgrade in Wisconsin and then say we need tolls because the highways are past capacity?

Who would end up paying the most in tolls throughout the year?

Do you really want to continue your subscription to the Wisconsin state Journal when all they do is advance an extreme right wing agenda?

Why would anyone take WPRI seriously?

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3 thoughts on “WPRI is at it again!

  1. Yes, this is class warfare. They cancel affordable transit like the Amtrak projects, then replace them by making everyone pay to travel the roads. A$$holes.

  2. Funny when WPRI complains about Washington doing to Wisconsin what Walker is doing the cities and counties of Wisconsin.

  3. Aren’t these the pinheads that got rid of the gas tax index that would have kept up with road maintenance?

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