What’s not to like? Separate lanes for trucks is the best basic design possible for interstate highway traffic.

All of us have traveled on four-lane roads with trucks limited to the two right-hand lanes. Even when the lanes are not separated, the safety and convenience of trucks-only lanes are great. The Interstate 70 plan unveiled recently by the Missouri Department of Transportation has four truck lanes in the middle - two each way - divided by a concrete barrier and two auto lanes each way on the outside separated from the truck lanes by grass medians.

To a non-engineer driver, this looks perfect. MoDOT officials say this design has not been used anywhere in the United States. Unless it would add more cost than is apparent, one wonders why. When we see cost estimates, maybe we’ll know.

Meanwhile, the public will weigh in on the design. Cost aside, why would anyone be critical?

At the moment MoDOT has inadequate funding for routine construction and upkeep, let alone the I-70 innovation. Upgrading the interstate has been a hot topic for years but inconclusive largely for lack of agreement on location and design. The latest scheme would allow use of existing rights of way through cities such as Columbia while accommodating high-speed through truck traffic.

Let’s hear more, including how much the road would cost.

Election Day

While voting is under way, let us remember once again how indebted we are to the candidates who run for public offices. In local elections, these worthy citizens typically receive no salaries and only minimal coverage of expenses, if any. The campaigns are not easy, and neither are the jobs. I often wonder what sort of insane urge drives members of the Columbia City Council when I see them plugging away at 2 in the morning, listening to angry partisans in a complicated zoning argument.

So win or lose, your favorite candidate deserves a hug and thanks for doing an essential job in this democratic system of ours. We owe them.

If I had to live my life over again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.

- Tallulah Bankhead (1903-1968), actress

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