St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says he doubts a new bridge across the Mississippi River will be built anytime soon. Slay has told a special commission formed to find a way to build the bridge that officials in Missouri and Illinois have wasted time trying to prove the other side is wrong instead of finding a way to build the bridge. Illinois wants to use cash on hand to pay its share of the costs. Missouri transportation officials say the state can’t afford to do it that way and want to make the bridge a toll bridge. Illinois rejects that idea. Congress has set aside $239 million for the bridge, which originally had a billion-dollar cost estimate.
