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A toll road through suburban back yards? <br />. lie sudden inovemeiK to embrace <br />toll roads — an ollierwise loreign ctui* <br />cc|)t to us build it-and tliey vvill'drive <br />Minnesotans — is seen as a necessary <br />Counterpoint <br />evil lu ils proponents and a costly <br />intrusion to its detractors. Upon closer <br />exuininutiun, the puhiic debate sur­ <br />rounding llwy. 212 tells us a great deal <br />about where we have been and where <br />we are going with respect to transpor­ <br />tation policy. <br />Historically, our system has always <br />been predicated on a certain percent­ <br />age of our fuel dollar going to support <br />road construction. Now that the na­ <br />tional roadway system is in place, new <br />projects are largely the repair of exist- <br />ing facilities, or special itnprovemcnts <br />to the already overused systeni. In <br />their Aug. 27 (Counterpoint ipiestion- <br />ing the wisdom of building the pro­ <br />posed tullway. r.den Praiiie City (Coun­ <br />cil Members Hon (Case and Natrcy <br />'I'yre-I.ukens point out that not all <br />road-construction dollars go toward <br />road construction anymore. <br />That is true. Among other thing.s. <br />those dollars also go to fund transit <br />services and facilities. <br />Ask the average contmuter if they <br />are willing to pay more for improved <br />road access, and wliat do yoti think <br />they are going to say? The politCcians <br />listen closely to these sentiments and, <br />given the fact that they want to keep <br />their jobs, they remain firmly seated <br />on their hands. It takes courage to <br />have the vision and strength of convic­ <br />tion to tell your constituents that a <br />well-managed fuel lax will enhance <br />worthwhile projects such as improved <br />transit service, with a net result of <br />decreased single occupancy vehicles <br />and commensurate downturn in the <br />need to institute such seemingly dra­ <br />conian measures as paying for w'lal <br />until now has been virtually free. <br />Which begs the <piesii(»n. Iliese <br />I'.den Prairie politicians are in part re- <br />lleciing the concerns of a vocal minor­ <br />ity of homeowners who have resided <br />for years along the llwy. 212 corridor. <br />Building this toll road would cut a <br />swath of noise and pollution, splitting <br />the community and signaling an end <br />to what has until now been a peaceful <br />existence. <br />Sound lamiliar? I wonder how those <br />people, poised on the |M>tential edge of <br />the lowest urban common denomina­ <br />tor — the dread '1 freeway corridor — <br />voted over the last 20 years on policies <br />that resulted in the virtual gutting of <br />the Minneapolis-St. Paul urban core. <br />Perhaps it is time that we exaininu <br />the broader issues of unbridled urban <br />sprawl, realizing that we are no longer <br />able to build our way out of congestion <br />and inner-city decay, and that without <br />sound leadership and strong public <br />policy, there will always he somebody <br />who wants to build farther out and <br />then drive through our back yards. <br />— Jack Benson, St. Paul. Transporta ­ <br />tion planner, Minnesota Itepartment <br />of I'ransportation. <br />\