HIGHWAY TOLLS DESERVE SERIOUS DISCUSSION

The French have a saying: Plus a change, plus la meme choses. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Amid all the discussion of Missouri's transportation woes comes news that officials of the Missouri Department of Transportation will once again attempt to sell us on the idea of toll roads. Any such move will necessarily begin with lawmakers but also involve a vote of the people, in order for the necessary constitutional change allowing toll roads to be approved.

Tolls aren't totally foreign to Missouri motorists. Bridges have had toll booths over the years, and almost any motorist who has driven in other states has encountered toll booths at bridges or turnpike entrances.

The request for toll roads is among the legislative initiatives for 2001 that MoDOT has outlined in its annual report to the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight earlier this month. Since abandoning the 15-year highway plan in 1998, MoDOT has lobbied heavily for additional sources of revenue to supplement its receipts from fuel taxes and federal money.

With the seventh largest system of highways and one of the lowest fuel taxes in the nation, MoDOT officials say current revenue doesn't allow for new construction while also preserving existing roadways. They say Missouri ranks 45th in the nation in revenue spent per mile. They stress that it's taking an increasing portion of the department's construction budget for system maintenance.

"Missourians must be willing to invest more in highways and bridges through other means in order to have the kind of highway and bridge improvements they've told us they want," said S. Lee Kling, chairman of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, MoDOT's governing body.

We believe this is a good debate for Missourians to hear. It is worth pointing to history that shows that this isn't anything new. Former Gov. Warren Hearnes proposed that Missouri join the many other states, including neighboring Kansas and Illinois, that have toll roads. Hearnes succeeded in getting a proposed constitutional amendment before the voters. By an overwhelming 71 percent margin, those voters defeated the proposal when it was put before them in the early 1970s. One of the roads Gov. Hearnes had in mind was a more direct route to Jefferson City from Southeast Missouri.

Now it is 30 years later, and circumstances have changed. Famous for our Show Me attitudes, Missourians will probably be skeptical, even hostile, at first to the idea. Still, there is no reason, given our current fix, why discussion of toll roads shouldn't be on the table. It is useful and educative for the public to hear facts and fair argument. Bring on the debate.