Local business leaders and lawmakers are worried a fight over whether to toll Interstate 70 won’t be settled until the final weeks of Missouri’s legislative session.House representatives opposed to tolling are taking action to settle the issue ahead of time.Last week, Rep. Bryan Spencer, whose district includes Wright City, introduced a budget bill amendment banning any spending associated with tolling interstate highways. Spencer is on the House Budget Committee, which debated HB 4, a budget bill that includes the Missouri Department of Transportation.Spencer said he introduced the amendment because a large number of constituents who responded to a survey said they were against toll roads. Other lawmakers who don’t have districts along I-70 have been reluctant to address the issue, he said.“It’s been on the table, but nobody wants to talk about it,” Spencer said. “Everyone knows infrastructure is declining. We have to do something, but no one wants to raise taxes.”Spencer argues that instead of pushing for tolls or new taxes, the state should shift money away from other programs to fund road improvements.In the short term, he predicted another representative would try to strip the anti-tolling language from the bill once it went to the full Missouri House. He was right: Rep. Kevin Corlew of Kansas City, who first introduced HB 155 to allow tolling on I-70, asked the House on Tuesday to strip anti-tolling language from the bill. That motion was defeated.Late Tuesday the bill was ordered perfected, which means it is on its way out of the House to be debated in the Missouri Senate.Rep. Bart Korman, who is also on the budget committee and whose district includes parts of Warren and Montgomery counties, said he supported the anti-tolling language in the budget bill.“My hope is that it stays throughout the budget process, even if it is only a one-year restriction,” Korman said.Missouri Department of Transportation officials say establishing a toll road would provide funding to reconstruct the deteriorating foundation of I-70 and add a lane in each direction to accommodate increasing traffic. The cost of that project was estimated at $2 billion in 2014. Multiple measures that would have raised statewide fuel taxes in response to funding needs have been defeated when they went to a public vote.Interstate 70