PROPERTY TAX RELIEF? The public roads: not as self-sustaining as some Passenger Rail critics would have you believe.

Toll roads in Wisconsin are unavoidable, given the need for billions of dollars to pay for road and transportation improvements in the state, a former state transportation secretary said Thursday.

Tom Carlsen, who led the Transportation Department under former Gov. Scott McCallum, broached that long-avoided proposal during his introductory remarks to a discussion of transportation in southeastern Wisconsin held at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Similar proposals and predictions on regional transit and gas tax increases were among the items debated.

"Automatic tolling will come some day," and not soon enough, Carlsen said, noting that gas taxes alone won't generate enough money to rebuild the aging freeway system and support the transit needs in the southeast part of the state. Improvements in fuel efficiency and the increasing use of alternative fuels will decrease the money generated through the motor fuels tax, which provides nearly 60% of the Department of Transportation's annual spending.

Carlsen also said the state needed to raise the gas tax to provide more money for building and maintaining highways, including the outdated Zoo Interchange.

The alternative might be an assessment for street repairs, probably more than $40 per house and $115 per hotel. Make that an additional assessment, as 40% of the department's spending relies on other than fuel tax revenues.