NATSO last week urged Missouri lawmakers to oppose a proposal to toll Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Kansas City.
In a letter to state Sen. Bill Stouffer (R-21) and state Rep. Charlie Denison (R-135), co-chairs of the state's Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight, NATSO said both traditional tolling and public private partnerships negatively impact consumers and interstate businesses that have grown up in towns and communities near interstate exits.
NATSO said while it recognized the need to maintain I-70, study after study shows that tolls carry astronomically higher capital and overhead expenditures compared with the fuel tax. NATSO also expressed concern with the structure of public private partnership deals that typically offer states most of the revenues up-front and that are most often used by states to fix short-term budget woes. "For highway users and taxpayers, the long-term leases that typically last for 75 to 100 years mean nothing more than tolling without input from elected officials," NATSO said.
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