MoDOT Director Kevin Keith asks the Transportation Oversight Committee for help in finding funding for the I-70 revamp.

The Transportation Department is low on cash, but insistent that Interstate 70 needs to be rebuilt to accommodate truck traffic. Department Director Kevin Keith says making I 70 a toll road may be the only way to fund it.

Keith says currently the department relies on a tax on gas to pay for improvements, but as cars are getting more fuel-efficient, that tax is bringing in less money. It will be up to lawmakers to decide how to fund this project, if at all.

He says he knows there will be opposition to the toll, but says the toll would be paid by those driving through from other states, so people other than Missourians would shoulder the burden of paying for it. He also says no toll would be collected until the entire project was complete.

Keith says he doesn’t think it would have to be put to a vote of the people in order to make it a toll road, but federal regulations require it to be revamped before a toll could be placed on it. He says finding funding for this project is a top priority for MoDOT right now.

Click here to vote or voice your opinion on how the I-70 revamp should be funded.

AUDIO Allison Blood reports. Mp3 [1:02]