Two Ways to Sustain Wisconsin’s Highway Racket: Tolls or Crushing Debt

It's the 1950s all over again in Wisconsin, where -- as we've reported before -- there seems to be an undying faith among political leaders that highway spending will restore prosperity, despite the fact that more forward-thinking regions are investing in things like tearing down highways.

Since Scott Walker became governor, touting himself as a fiscal conservative, Wisconsin has embarked on a bonanza of highway spending, including a $1.7 billion interchange, a $207 million highway expansion, and a $25 million "interchange to nowhere."

This week, "budget conscious" state leaders pulled the trigger on a $715 million highway widening that the State Journal called "one of the most expensive highway projects in state history."

James Rowen at The Political Environment skewers the sheer recklessness of it all and questions whether electeds have the stomach to actually pay for the highway binge.

Elsewhere on the Network today: M-Bike.org reports that city leaders in Detroit have an "aggressive" plan to add bike infrastructure. Missouri Bicycle Federation introduces the concept of sustainable street certification, like LEED for streets. And Flat Iron Bike discusses how standard liability in car wrecks is inappropriate in an age of car sharing.