Ron McLinden, chapter transportation chair
Nobody likes tolls. However, they are probably the fairest way to pay for “premium service” roads like urban and rural “freeways.” Without tolls, these roads get used for short trips that don’t warrant such a facility, and such trips get in the way of longer-distance travelers, add to congestion, and contribute to the notion that the freeway should be widened.
Freeway congestion is evidence of traffic “demand” greater than the “supply” of road space. Our economy uses prices to allocate scarce resources, yet there is reluctance to apply that market mechanism to high-cost public highways. Yes, we built I-70 and the other freeways to be “free” ways. But they are worn out now, and they need to be totally rebuilt. Rebuilding them as toll roads – even if the tolls charged don’t cover their full cost – is a reasonable way to better distribute traffic across the entire highway system.
“Congestion pricing” – higher tolls during peak travel periods – has the added benefit of reducing congestion and the perceived need for excess capacity that is needed only during those peak periods. A further benefit of such tolls is that they could help slow the suburban sprawl that is fueled by the expectation that MoDOT will keep adding freeway capacity forever.