MoDOT wants I-70 to become a toll road : News : ConnectMidMissouri.com

MoDOT wants I-70 to become a toll road

Posted: 01.17.2012 at 8:39 PM

MoDOT says it spends between $60 and $90 million dollars every year to keep Interstate 70 in good shape.

Now, they say it's time for a complete overhaul.

The current road bed was only supposed to last about 25 years and it's more than doubled it's expected life.

Tuesday afternoon we asked MODOT Director, Kevin Keith if he was out of his mind because he's trying to put tolls on people in a struggling economy with high gas prices. He said, “yes...I am.. and the reason I'm doing that is there is no such thing as a free road".

We also asked him why MoDOT and the state couldn't live within it's means like like citizens have to do. He responded, ”You know I think we're doing that very well, we're reducing our staff by 20 percent, trying to take every dollar Missourians give us and spend it on the road but at some point that's not going to be enough. We cannot cut our way into the kind of transportation system we need".

MoDOT has three proposals for I-70.

One would be to put in a new roadway just like the one we see now, that would cost about $2 billion dollars.

There are also thoughts of upgrading to three and four lanes in each direction.

The most expensive plan involves two lanes for cars and two lanes for trucks in each direction.

That plan would cost about $4 billion dollars.

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