You Won’t Be Crossing this Bridge When You Come To It

The Sherman Minton Bridge’s suddenly closure due to the discovery of serious cracks created a crack in the fabric of commerce and community of the 1 million plus people of Louisville, Kentucky and southern Indiana.  Not to mention all the other folks who are just passing through.

The result: traffic in and between Louisville and its neighboring community across the Ohio River has become a nightmare.  Of course, much less of a nightmare than it would have been if the first indication of the compromised status of the bridge had been its collapse.  Lots of suggestions and finger-pointing about the failure to have another bridge or two constructed in the last several decades also has resulted.

Everything from the quaint but somewhat impractical suggestion of redeploying ferries across the river to the solution of telecommuting for those who can utilize high-tech options, are among the suggestions.  Bicycling and walking are great ideas while the weather is as pleasant as it is today.  But both will lose their draw for all but the hard core once the weather turns cold or wet.  And, despite all the talk, if the bridge cannot be readily and quickly fixed, traffic will continue to be a mess as people try to cross the river for essential destinations like work and school.  Other commerce between the areas is bound to suffer as people choose to avoid non-essential travel.

I was and still am in the camp that does not relish tolls for a new bridge.  Tolls are another method of slowing traffic, annoying travelers and imposing additional charges for things government should provide to its citizens as part of the package of services anyone but a Libertarian expects.  But in this limited circumstance, perhaps a stiff toll for those crossing the river by bridge in a single-person vehicle would be the incentive needed to encourage car-pooling and use of public transportation to cross the river. 

Traffic is already stalled--so a toll collector would not slow the flow of otherwise speedily moving traffic.  And info on Tarc bus routes and schedules as well as car-pooling could be provided by the toll collectors.  Maybe the additional cost of the toll and the info would be the encouragement enough people need to make the choice that will benefit them and the rest of the crowd.  

Car pooling creates a little extra hassle for those who do it and very little reward—that is, unless a lot of people choose to participate.  But if we add an additional incentive, such as a toll for non-car-poolers, enough people might choose to take on the extra effort to join a car pool, resulting in easing traffic congestion.  I’m sure economists could put this in some high sounding technical terms about incentives for the public good where there is a disincentive to the individual.  However you label the proposal, it’s common sense to find a way to encourage car pools, particularly under these circumstances.

This toll proposal in no way endorses a long term-toll on a new bridge.  Nor does it excuse the civic leaders who could not get their acts together and build another bridge or two, or some other public transit option, to traverse the Ohio River sometime in the last century. 

We have about half a million more people living in the Louisville metro area than we did when the Sherman Minton Bridge was built.  It’s common sense we now need more ways to cross the Ohio River than when that bridge was built.  The immediacy of this latest problem just makes it more urgent that we exercise some of that common sense.