"No Tolls" vindication comes with poll results, as Clere Channel crickets continue to chirp.

The story is written by Marcus Green of the Courier-Journal.

We eagerly await responses (if any) from our trio of courageous local "defenders" in the Indiana legislature as to their feelings about this vivid and predictable confirmation of the way Hoosiers really have felt about tolls and the ORBP from the beginning.

I imagine we'll be scolded; after all, since the same legislators already have signed away control over the legal mechanisms in a bid to make tolls inevitable, we'll be told that tolls (taxes) are inevitable, and now we must selflessly and even heroically pay the daily toll tax so Kerry Stemler and the River Ridge oligopolies might thrive, even as Louisvillians cease traveling to the Sunny Side.

The absurdity of tolling has reached a deafening crescendo with the release of these poll results. Trouble is, those who are willfully deaf on ideological grounds cannot hear the sound of their constituents.

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Ohio River bridge tolls show mixed support, poll finds


A public-opinion poll commissioned by a Southern Indiana foundation finds little satisfaction with elected officials and community leaders over their handling of the Ohio River Bridges Project — and mixed support for tolls to help pay for two new bridges.


The research, which was released Thursday morning by the Paul Ogle Foundation of Jeffersonville, Ind., also shows a lack of public backing for tolls on the Kennedy Bridge and overwhelming opposition to the prospect of tolls on the Sherman Minton and Clark memorial bridges.


The findings, based on interviews by Louisville-based Thoroughbred Research Group, show that 69 percent of those surveyed describe the bridges as a “somewhat” or “extremely” important project. In all, 46 percent said they “strongly favor” the project.


The research included landline and cell phone conversations with 875 adults in a nine-county area — Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Washington in Indiana; and Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer and Trimble in Kentucky.


Interviews were conducted between March 7 and March 12. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.


The poll found that Hoosiers cross the Ohio River about four times more often than Kentucky residents. People living in Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana averaged about five trips — or 10 crossings — per week, while Louisville residents averaged slightly more than one such trip each week.


The $2.6 billion bridges project includes new bridges downtown and between Utica, Ind., and Prospect, along with a rebuilt Spaghetti Junction interchange, where Interstates 64, 65 and 71 meet near downtown Louisville. Indiana is in charge of building the eastern segment, while Kentucky will oversee the downtown portion.


Both states are aiming for construction to begin this year.


Specifically, half of those surveyed said they “moderately” or “strongly” supported the general concept of tolls to help pay for the project. Those who said they “strongly” favored tolls included 20 percent of all respondents and 12 percent of frequent commuters.


Among frequent commuters — someone who makes four or more cross-river round trips in a typical week — 35 percent categorically opposed tolls, while 17 percent opposed tolls but were open to changing their minds.


The poll found that among the three elements of the project, the East End Bridge received strong support from 69 percent of those surveyed, while the Spaghetti Junction work garnered 58 percent. Forty-seven percent gave the same level of support to building a new downtown bridge and turning the Kennedy Bridge into a southbound-only span.


In all, 61 percent favored removing the Drumanard Estate in eastern Jefferson County from the National Register of Historic Places. The historic designation forced project planners to propose a $261 million tunnel under the estate, which the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has agreed to purchase.


Robert Lanum, a founder of the Ogle Foundation and a former president and CEO, was to speak about the poll Thursday morning in Jeffersonville. Lanum was formerly vice chairman of the Bridges Coalition, a group of business, government and labor groups that favors the bridges project, but spokesman Matt Kamer said the coalition wasn’t involved in the poll.