Toll roads. An old idea resurfaces. Gov. Jay Nixon has launched a new push to add tolls to Interstate 70 to raise much needed highway funds. Nixon likely is using the unpopular idea to spark a new conversation among lawmakers about the pressing need for improved highways and the funding to pay for them. At present, we enjoy demonstrably reduced gasoline prices, down by 35 percent or more from just six months ago. This amounts to savings of more than $1 per gallon, about $400 dollars a year for a driver covering 1,000 miles per month in a fuel-efficient automobile. Analysts predict the dramatic reduction might be more than a short-lived phenomenon. Is this not the time to explore raising the gas tax to fund needed rebuilding and expansion?

The Missouri electorate defeated a sales tax proposal to fund roadway improvements on the last ballot. Taxation is problematic in this economic environment, but the single most-voiced objection to the sales tax was that users of the highways would not directly finance their improvement. Tolling I-70 would theoretically accomplish that goal, but there are other considerations that affect fairness. Only the rural section of I-70 would be tolled. Commuters in St. Louis and Kansas City who use the route would not. The many commuters in Central Missouri who commute from Mexico, Boonville and other communities would have to pay disproportionately for their brethren in the metropolitan areas. This would mean Central Missouri commuters would be asked to pay twice for travel � once at the pump and again at the toll booth.

Ironically, those metro commuters are driving on freeways that have already been rebuilt and improved extensively over the past decades, using funds supported by the present gas tax. Rural I-70 has been given only cursory maintenance. Since the original I-70 crossing at the Missouri River that joined St. Louis and St. Charles counties was built in 1958, four new bridge projects have been completed. Where once 10 lanes crossed the Big Muddy and connected the two counties, more than 30 lanes now carry vehicles on five different routes. A new bridge is under construction on Interstate 64. Relatively new multispan crossings exist on state roads 364 and 370, both fairly new urban commuter freeways built over the last 25 years. The original I-70 span was demolished and replaced last year, and the Lewis and Clark bridges connecting far north St. Charles to Illinois have been rebuilt.

These major bridge projects do not come cheaply. But they merely underscore the massive urban development of commuter freeways that have dominated the spending on road development over the past 30 years. The interstate project was nearing completion in the mid-1970s. At some point, urban interests high-jacked the original premise of interstate highways, subverting the intention of seamless interstate transportation to provide capacity for commuting. The rebuilding of I-70 could have easily been achieved years ago if the money it generated was earmarked for that purpose. I-70 has been the cash cow that has provided funding for much of the improvement urban areas have witnessed. It would add injury to insult if rural users were forced to pay tolls to buy a new cow.

With lower gas prices, it is an ideal time to propose a hike in gas taxes. During the heyday of the economic bubble, gas prices approached or exceeded $4.50 a gallon. State legislators intoned their belief the gas tax should be suspended or the strategic oil reserve should be tapped to mitigate the economic burden consumers faced. With the inverse situation in effect, an oil glut and low prices, isn�t a tax hike reasonable? Is it time legislators take a look at perhaps making fuel taxation a more forward thinking endeavor? Why must fuel tax rates be static? Is it possible to impose a sliding scale to reflect the current relative gas price? Stated simply, when gas prices are low, the tax should be higher; when gas prices are high the tax should be lower.

Start from the current 17.3 cents per gallon. That would be the base under which the tax would not fall. The legislature would determine what the highest rate would be. We could easily double the current rate at the low price for fuel. Use a moving average to determine what the current gas tax should be. This would have the built-in effect of moderating prices when they are high while collecting much-needed revenue when prices are not pinching the average budget.

It is imperative a funding mechanism be found. I-70 is the lifeline that allows Columbia to thrive. Allowing the deterioration to continue will have a deleterious effect on the region�s economic vitality.