Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford said Saturday he opposes using tolls to pay for the planned $3 billion replacement of the Brent Spence Bridge in Northern Kentucky.
"There is no issue more important than the bridge," Lunsford, a Northern Kentucky native and Louisville resident, said before addressing about 40 people who turned out for a Saturday candidate Meet and Greet in Wilder.
...Beginning early last year, McConnell, the Bush administration, other members of Congress and some local leaders suggested tolls as a way to pay for the project. Their argument was, with the federal funds scarce, state and local leaders should consider "creative" methods of financing, including tolls.
If you're not aware of the Republican agenda of increasing the nation's reliance on tolls, just read this March 17 article from the Washington Post:
For [Department of Transportation general counsel D.J.] Gribbin, [DOT top policymaker Tyler] Duvall and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, the goal is not just to combat congestion but to upend the traditional way transportation projects are funded in this country. They believe that tolls paid by motorists, not tax dollars, should be used to construct and maintain roads.
They and other political appointees have spent the latter part of President Bush's two terms laboring behind the scenes to shrink the federal role in road-building and public transportation. They have also sought to turn highways into commodities that can be sold or leased to private firms and used by motorists for a price. In Duvall and Gribbin's view, unleashing the private sector and introducing market forces could lead to innovation and more choices for the public, much as the breakup of AT&T transformed telecommunications.
