Missouri voters could have the chance permanently ban toll roads under an initiative petition filed Wednesday. The petition would add a constitutional amendment to the 2018 statewide election ballot, …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous wesbite, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Missouri voters could have the chance permanently ban toll roads under an initiative petition filed Wednesday.
The petition would add a constitutional amendment to the 2018 statewide election ballot, asking voters to prohibit tolling on state roads. The petition was filed by transportation advocacy group A Better Road Forward (ABRF).
“Our goal with this initiative is simple: To ban double taxation and preserve the freedom of our roadways,” ABRF Chairman Wayne Baker said in a news release. “Missourians already pay a gas tax for our roads. We should not have to pay a toll tax as well.”
Three versions of the petition were filed with the office of Missouri Secretary of State John Ashcroft. The wording of each version is similar, although one would go as far as prohibiting any state facility or structure from being paid for by “tolls, fees, rents, or other charges imposed for use of the facility.”
After an approval process that can take up to two months, supporters can begin circulating the petition. To get on the 2018 ballot, the petition must be signed by 8 percent of voters in at least six out of eight congressional districts. That would mean more than 157,000 total signatures.
The move to ban toll roads is part of an ongoing resistance to a Missouri legislative proposal to use tolling as a means of paying for improvements to Interstate 70. The proposal would allow the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to partner with private entities to finance, develop or operate a new reconstruction project of I-70, funded by user fees.
MoDOT officials say they need more revenue, whether from tolls or another source, to adequately address I-70’s increasing traffic load and a crumbling foundation. MoDOT estimates reconstructing the more than 50-year-old road and adding a lane in each direction will cost at least $2 billion. Multiple measures that would have raised statewide fuel taxes in response to funding needs have been defeated in recent years.
Still, opponents argue that tolling is wrong for Missouri, and want to put the issue to a vote of the people.
“This is another old scheme to unfairly burden Missouri’s working families with a high risk and devastating impact on manufacturers and small businesses,” said Warren County Assessor Wendy Nordwald, who is an executive committee member of ABRF and president of the Missouri Association of Counties.
All three versions of the initiative petition can be found at the secretary of state’s website, www.sos.mo.gov. Click the Initiative & Referendum Petitions link toward the center left of the home page, then click “2018 Initiative and Referendum Petitions Filed.” The ABRF petitions were filed by Wayne Baker on 4/5/17.
Interstate 70
