Issue of toll roads is decided in Missouri

Some people are convinced that looking backward is the best way to solve a problem. Take the opinion piece published in this paper April 13 about the proposed sales tax increase to pay for transportation projects. Ironically, the writer belittles the proposal and suggests alternative ways of funding that have been looked at and debated here in the past few years. Specifically, it suggested that we place tolls on Interstate 70.

The problem that I, and a large number of other Missourians, had with tolls back then was that placing tolls on a federal interstate would force us to pay two taxes for a single road. We would pay the federal gas tax at the pump then pay a toll tax on the road. This is unfair to anyone using that road. Nothing has changed about this since 2012.

I think it's time for all of us to start looking forward to find solutions to our transportation funding issues instead of dwelling in the past. Maybe the sales tax is the right answer, and maybe it's not, but we made our decision about tolls on existing interstates in Missouri, and the answer is still "no."

Letter to the Editor
By Joe Bechtold, owner, Midway Truck Stop 6401 W. Highway 40