TOLL BRIDGES-COMING SOON

Five years ago I wrote about the necessity of tolling some or all the new bridges and parkways we are going to need in Kentucky. Federal money simply isn't there to make them free. The people in Fletcher's administration came to the same conclusion eventually, but very quietly, as did Sen. David Williams. So too now is the new Beshear administration, as reported in today's Courier-Journal and John Yarmuth is sending out signals as well.

I think there should not be such skittishness. The only politician brave enough to aggressively pursue the idea in the past, Louisville Councilman Doug Hawkins, has been praised for being honest about this.

The voters aren't stupid. The don't mind paying a toll for something they can actually see, a bridge or road in their area they can use and will help the economy. What people resent is tax increases that go into some bottomless government hole and never seeming to produce anything good, just more "Heather Has Two Mommies" classroom instruction, and other things they don't want and never asked for.

With a toll bridge, only the people that actually use it, pay for it. And a lot of them, in case you ever consult a map of Kentucky, will be folks driving through from one state to another. It will be nice if Hoosiers, Buckeyes, Rockytoppers, and other neighbors have a chance help us poor little Kentucky folk pay for these things as well.