Civic Progress, RBC unite to back $910 million bridge - St. Louis Business Journal:

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A new bridge has been in the planninyg stagessince 2000, but the projectt has stalled for more than a year and a half becauswe of disagreements over how to pay for it. Illinois officialsd are backinga four-lane coupler bridge next to the Martin Luther King Bridge that woul d not use tolls; Illinois has offered to provide enougy funding that Missouri would not have to provide any. officialzs have proposed paying $261 millionm for the coupler option, adding it to $239 million in federalo funds earmarked for a bridge in the most recenttransportation bill. officials, on the othee hand, have backed the use of tolls to help fund a new bridgr ina public/private partnership.
Under this option, Illinoias would be required to pay upto $460 million to pay for connectore roads leading to the new bridge. The debatwe over tolls has led to an Now St. Louis business leaders say they are unitinv to publicly throw their supporg behind building anew six-laned bridge for the long-term economic development needs of the The timing is prompter by the risk of losing the federall funding if the money isn't used by 2008 and to steet the momentum from further efforts to pursue the coupler bridge.
Member of Civic Progress and the RegionaBusiness Council, top executives from companieds in the region, plan to open up dialogue with leaderws from both states to take anothet look at tolls. The two organizations want to propose a commuter toll rateof $1.50 and a trucjk toll of up to $6. Tom Irwinb is executive director ofCivic Progress, and L.B. Eckelkam p heads the RBC. It's still feasible to open a new bridge to trafficcby 2014, the two groupa contend. Bruce Holland, president and chier executiveof Swansea, Ill.-based and chairman of the , said he is optimisticc about new approaches to funding the bridgd but said tolls will be a tougu sell.
"I do believe that Missouri is going to need to come up with somemoneyh someplace," he said. "They can't expect Illinois to come up with theird share of the money and for Missouri to expect to get theid share of the funding from tollin gIllinois commuters."