Odds and ends, 4/14/08

Here's a story from the Cincinnati Enquirer that will make my youngest shake his head in puzzlement. Teens get onto parents for not being environmentally friendly, but they insist on driving to school rather than ride the bus.

I've told my kids they can plan to ride the bus after they get their licenses. For one thing, I don't make enough to keep them all in cars, gas and insurance. Second, the bus is a lot safer way of getting to school than driving.

###

If you want to talk about sticker shock, try this little ditty from the AP:


CINCINNATI (AP) — U.S. Sen. George Voinovich wants to reopen talks on an idea that has already led to a public outcry — charging tolls to pay for a new bridge to link two interstates from Ohio to Kentucky.

The Ohio Republican said tolls cannot be ruled out of the discussion in planning a replacement for the 45-year-old Brent Spence Bridge, which carries 150,000 cars and trucks a day across the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Covington, Ky.

The bridge that carries Interstates 71 and 75 needs replacement because it’s overcrowded, too narrow and lacks emergency breakdown lanes. The cost of replacement is estimated at $750 million.

Two bills to authorize tolls to pay for the bridge died this spring in the Kentucky Legislature under pressure from the public. Kentucky owns the bridge and most of the river. However, Voinovich said tolls must be part of the discussion to replace it. He planned to meet officials from both states on Monday.

“Sure, it’s going to be one of the options,” he said last week. “It’s got to be looked at.”

Kentucky alone cannot be expected to pay for it, Voinovich said.“It can’t happen without federal funding,” said Voinovich, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees interstate highways. “The question is how much federal funding — and that has to do with some major decisions we make with regard to not only that bridge but nationally." ...

I'm not averse to charging tolls on new bridges, especially if they cost $750 million to $2.2 billion to build. That last number comes from a proposal in Louisville for two bridges with a total cost of $4.4 billion.

I'm not necessarily against tolls on highways such as the Turnpike as long as a) the tolls are needed to pay for construction and maintenance, and b) the tolls go only to those uses, not to build horse parks, retail stores, touristy festivals or sidewalks for nearby towns.

Know what I mean?

Anyway, $750 million for a bridge is a supersize case of sticker shock.