Joplin Globe Gets It Wrong

Maurice earlier referenced the Joplin Globe’s editorial on toll roads in Missouri. I wish to add my thoughts. The Globe writes:

Missourians have eschewed toll roads for much the same reason. They don’t relish paying again at a toll gate for something for which their gasoline taxes have already paid.

Wrong, wrong, wrong! The Globe could not be more wrong. It is illegal to put tolls on roads that were built with gas tax dollars. Any new transportation plan for Missouri, which I hope includes tolls, would only be able to put those tolls on new highways, or new lanes added to existing highways. You can not just take I-70 and turn it into a toll road after it was built with gas taxes. Tolled interstate highways in other states, such as Oklahoma, were either built as toll roads, or turnpikes, before the interstate highway system was created, or were built afterward using toll financing instead of gas taxes. I just wanted to make that clear for everyone.