Group proposes Missouri vote to ban toll roads

JEFFERSON CITY — A nonprofit has proposed asking Missourians in 2018 whether to ban future tolling on existing state roads.

A Better Road Forward, a nonprofit started in March by Warrenton Oil Co. head Wayne Baker, has filed three initiative petitions with the office of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, the group said Wednesday in a news release. The wording of the proposed constitutional amendments vary, but the objective is the same.

"Our goal with this initiative is simple: To ban double taxation and preserve the freedom of our roadways current and future generations of hard-working Missourians," Baker said in the release. "Missourians already pay a gas tax for our roads. We should not have to pay a toll tax as well."

The release describes A Better Road Forward as "a transportation advocacy group comprised of concerned citizens, small businesses, organizations, and communities who are committed to finding viable solutions to solve Missouri's transportation crisis."

A bill paving the way for a public-private partnership to start tolling along Interstate 70, filed by Rep. Kevin Corlew, R-Kansas City, drew the group members' attention, and they've started to get the road out. The fledgling anti-tolling group is working with consultants including the Barklage & Knodell consulting firm and it has created a website (betterroadmo.com) and a social media presence.

The group, which aims to head off any tolling plans being discussed by the Missouri Department of Transportation, also has written to state lawmakers and to the Washington Missourian newspaper. Opponents signing on include officials and business owners from Warren and Montgomery counties, which are bisected by I-70.

"Missouri was once a pioneer in highway construction as the first state to build miles of interstate, paving the way for the free and efficient flow of commerce," the group wrote to the Missourian. "We must find a way to lead again — without forcing another tax on Missourians through inefficient toll roads and deficient (public-private partnerships)."

President Donald Trump's appreciation of public-private partnerships has gotten the group's attention, said Mike Hafner, spokesman for A Better Road Forward. Trump has proposed substantial infrastructure investment across the country, and A Better Road Forward wants to make sure that tolling in Missouri isn't a part of the president's plans.

Corlew's bill has not been referred to committee, but lawmakers have acted on tolling nonetheless. An amendment banning future studies of tolling in Missouri was approved by the House Budget Committee last week. Corlew tried to lift the ban on the House floor Tuesday night but was unsuccessful.

Currently, tolling discussion has centered on I-70, and lawmakers on Tuesday noted that the discussion had not covered other major Missouri highways such as I-44. MoDOT director Patrick McKenna, whose department oversees the nation's seventh-largest highway system, told the News-Leader last month that he recognized "a tremendous amount of opposition in Missouri to tolling."

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