New Coalition Draws Bead on Tolls

Tolls are a bottom-line issue for Marr Lynn Bearden. Her company, Marrlin Transit, Van Buren, Ark., operates 60 trailers as a regional carrier for several corrugated box plants serving Arkansas and Oklahoma.

With a profit margin of 6%, Ms. Bearden watches every penny. That’s why a proposal by the Arkansas Highway Commission to place tolls on Interstate highways in Arkansas to pay for repairs and improvements has Ms. Bearden so concerned.

The commission is preparing an application to participate in a federal program that will permit up to three states to impose tolls on what are now free Interstates. If Akransas’ application is approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Ms. Bearden’s drivers would have to shell out an estimated $87,760 annually to travel round-trip from Fort Smith, Ark., to Memphis on I-40.

"I can’t fathom passing this cost on to my customers," Ms. Bearden said. "And I simply cannot afford to absorb these fees on top of all the other state and federal highway taxes I’m already paying to maintain that stretch of Interstate. How can my company possibly pay this new toll fee and still stay in business?"

Ms. Bearden’s frustration over the Arkansas commission’s plans led her to Washington, D.C., last week to participate in a news conference called by a newly assembled coalition opposed to new tolls on Interstates in Arkansas or anywhere else. Joining Ms. Bearden at the Citizens for Safe and Efficient Highways event were representatives of the trucking industry, other highway advocates and anti-tax groups.

"The coalition has made Arkansas ground zero in the war against tolls," American Trucking Associations President Walter B. McCormick Jr. said. "The Interstate system was established as a system of freeways, not feeways."

Coalition members hope to tap into growing public sentiment against tolls. A poll released last week by the coalition showed that 77% of registered voters oppose adding new tolls to federal highways. That’s an increase from April, when a similar poll conducted for ATA found that 73% of voters surveyed were against tolls.

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