Roads aren't built for free

Nobody likes paying more in taxes. But I don't know of many people who enjoy sitting on the Crosstown mired in traffic either. Our state's highway system is in sad shape, and it's going to cost money to fix it. I think the transportation plan being put forward is a good idea.

We wouldn't need to raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon right now had we been responsible and increased it sometime during the past 18 years or so, but we didn't so this is what we face. The reductions in license tab fees we got in the late 90s were fun, but times have changed. A regional sales tax has proven to work wonders in Denver and other metropolitan areas in terms of jump-starting transit. These aren't pie-in-the-sky, untested ideas. These are solutions to a very real problem.

I sure am not going to relish paying more in taxes. But I am sick of hearing how the Crosstown reconstruction is delayed or we don't know when we will finish the 610 or the new 212 or turning highway 52 into a freeway between St. Paul and Rochester. Public infrastructure is one of the core duties of government. It's time to act like adults and fix things.