The late David F. Schulz, a former Milwaukee County executive, was working as executive director of the Infrastructure Technology Institute at Northwestern University in 2000 when he published a paper called "Politics of Congestion: The Continuing Legacy of the Milwaukee Freeway Revolt."

"From a pure transportation perspective, the Milwaukee area would undoubtedly have been better off with construction of some or all of the unbuilt freeways," Schulz wrote. "Traffic congestion on the existing freeways has grown dramatically -- much in line with planners' projections, if not exceeding them.

"At the turn of the century, the Milwaukee area finds itself embroiled again in transportation debate involving if and how to rebuild the decaying freeways while offering transit alternatives -- perhaps through a light rail system. In a way, transportation decision deadlock has returned to Milwaukee."

While necessary, the ongoing renovation / rebuilding of the Marquette Interchange could hinder future projects because of its staggering price tag and drivers' aversion to further expense and inconvenience.

"What must concern those of us involved in public works as we move forward is that the anti-freeway activism of the '70s has continued to evolve and broaden, with the result that American society has essentially handed a veto power over public works improvements to increasingly smaller groups of people," Schulz wrote in 2000.

"Every public works official has a horror story where a needed project has been delayed or even killed by a seemingly very small group of opponents. Coupled with funding shortages, and increasingly onerous regulations, this has made the development of major public works projects increasingly difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.

"It has gotten to the point where one must wonder whether it is possible in the United States today to build needed new airports, roads, transit, and sewer and water capacity to meet the growing needs of our country. Anyone concerned with the escalating problems of air traffic congestion, highway congestion, transit, and the environment must appreciate that badly needed improvements are going unbuilt as a result."

What you can do to make it suck less: In essence, not much.

Solutions to transportation problems must be solved with levelheaded leadership, compromise and cooperation -- not exactly trademark elements in the American political system.

The best recent example of a successful project is the Lake Freeway South, which connected the Hoan Bridge with the suburbs of St. Francis, Cudahy, South Milwaukee and Oak Creek. The proposal, like others, had been quashed by persistent opposition but was revived.

Wrote Schulz: "Alternatives were drawn, public meetings held, tempers flared, and strong words flew. But in the end, most people in the community understood that the arterial proposal on right-of-way that was already almost completely empty offered a solution to growing problems of traffic running on surface streets through their neighborhoods.

"Today, you can drive on a handsome, largely grade-separated arterial constructed on the right-of-way once planned for the Lake Freeway South."

Can the spirit of cooperation and compromise that led to the Lake Freeway South be rekindled and applied to other projects? Yes. But, it's going to take reasoned discussion, vision, patience, time and a whole lot of money.