OOIDA Call to Action - Missouri Members
October 20, 2004

Missouri highway officials are proposing to toll Interstate 70 between Kansas City and St. Louis.

Officials are considering tolls as high as $10 one way to cross the state for cars and 22.50 for trucks.

The 250-mile stretch would be dotted by four to six tollbooths. Money generated from the tolls would be used to rebuild the interstate and expand it to six lanes statewide. I-70 is now four lanes through most of the state.

Missouri voters would need to approve any toll plan because it would require a state constitutional amendment. It also would need state legislative approval.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials say a toll might be the best way, if not the only, way to fund adding lanes to the interstate.

Proponents of toll roads have tried for years to make them an option in

Missouri, but voters rejected the concept in 1970 and 1992. That's as far as highway officials have gotten. They've asked for tolling authority each of the past three years, but lawmakers have refused to let it advance to the ballot.

In response, MoDOT has tweaked its latest effort to ask for tolling on only one road.

The department is considering an "open toll" system in which travelers would only be required to pay when they go through the booth, and not every time they get on and off the interstate.

"The idea is to get the traffic that's going all the way across the state," not the local traffic, Linda Wilson, an agency spokeswoman, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The most recent figures, from 2002, showed that about 240,000 vehicles a day traveled between Kansas City and St. Louis. Experts predict that congestion on I-70 will double by 2020, and rebuilding the interstate will cost taxpayers about $3 billion.

Current federal law prohibits enacting tolls on interstates that are now toll-free; however, Congress is considering eliminating the restriction in its transportation reauthorization bill.

One of the biggest supporters of allowing states to place tolls on existing interstates is Sen. Kit Bond. This is an election year for the senator.

Now would be a great time to share your thoughts on toll roads.

The telephone number for Sen. Bond is (202) 224-5721.