In the spirit of fairness, I now work for a company that does public relations regarding highway funding, so the messages in this Wall Street Journal piece relfect both a personal view and a business view as well.  That said, in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge tragedy, the nation is going to have to do some soul searching on how we fund highways.  For 50 years, ever since President Eisenhower began building the nation's current highway infrastructure, those roads have been funded by gas taxes levied not on price, but volume sold.  That worked for a long time.  Now, its beginning not to make sense.  High gas prices and the increasing (though still relatively small) use of hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles is taking a chunk out of how much gas is purchased.  That combined with construction material cost inflation means that we are getting less money to build new roads and do needed upkeep at a time when the lifecycle of a lot of these highways is reaching its end. 

Innovative ideas like Indiana's leasing of the Turnpike (and the idea Ken Blackwell had on the campaign trail last year) are but among a myriad of options that should be looked at as part of the solution.  Here's to hoping a shocking event like what happened in Minnesota will create the necessary momentum.