Missouri Considers Adding Tolls to I-70

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he Missouri Department of Transportation is considered turning Interstate 70 into a toll road, the Associated Press reported.

The proposal calls for five toll booths between St. Louis and Kansas City, charging as much as $45 round-trip for commercial vehicles, according to a 2002 feasibility study.

I-70 connects St. Louis with Kansas City within Missouri and extends from Maryland to Utah. It is four lanes in much of the state, but the tolls would raise money to expand it to six lanes statewide, AP said.

Kevin Keith, the department's chief engineer, said the second-phase of the feasibility study would be released in the next few weeks, according to AP.

The report is expected to include estimates on how much money the tolls would generate, locations for the toll booths and how much traffic likely would move to alternate east-to-west highways, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The most recent figures, from 2002, showed that nearly 241,000 vehicles a day traveled between St. Louis and Kansas City.

Illinois and six other states neighboring Missouri already have authority to charge tolls, the Post-Dispatch said. Parts of I-70 in Kansas already are tolled.

Keith said traffic on I-70 is expected to double in 10 years.

Before officials could pursue tolling, voters would have to approve an amendment to the state constitution to put toll roads under the department's jurisdiction, AP said.

In addition, MDOT would need to find a way around existing federal law prohibiting the conversion of an interstate into a toll road.