When the state Department of Transportation developed its blueprint to guide transportation policies over the next two decades, it correctly identified a challenge that looms over all others:

How is Wisconsin going to pay for all that needs to be done to maintain a competitive transportation system in the 21st century?

But then the department made a mistake. It closed the door on a funding option that has been recommended by three government-backed study commissions -- toll roads.

Granted, toll roads are controversial. They may prove a bad fit for Wisconsin. But to remove them from consideration is to limit the state's options at a time when Wisconsin should be open to a wide range of solutions.

That error is one reason the public should weigh in on the long-range state transportation plan, Connections 2030 -- before it's too late.

The public's first opportunity to do so will be Wednesday evening in Madison. Additional meetings around the state will continue through February to elicit public input on the plan before it is made final.

The Transportation Department put smart people in charge of Connections 2030. But the department also is inviting public input as the state establishes general priorities for transportation policies between now and 2030.

There is much for the public to comment on, from a commuter rail line for Dane County to 27 major highway projects statewide.

What to do about funding is a priority on which all else depends.

Wisconsin confronts a squeeze. Aging roads and bridges are in need of costly, overdue repairs. Highways and mass transit systems need to be expanded to meet growing demand, and new technologies need to be employed to move people and goods more efficiently.

But the gasoline tax, which now provides nearly 60 percent of the $5.9 billion state transportation budget, is forecast to be a faltering revenue source as consumers switch to high mileage cares and use alternatives such as battery-powered vehicles.

Connections 2030 mentions several alternatives to pick up the slack, including gaining additional federal money, creating regional transportation authorities with local taxing power, and using modern technology to impose a tax on each vehicle based on miles traveled.

But the report rules out using modern technology for booth-less toll roads, as other states have done.

Tolling was recommended as a funding option for states by a national transportation commission created by Congress. Furthermore, two state committees -- the Kettl Commission in 2001 and the SAVE Commission in 1995 -- recommended tolling as an option for Wisconsin.

Toll roads deserve more discussion.

That's one of the messages the public should deliver as Connections 2030 is opened for comment.