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"Proposed tolls for the Ohio River Bridges Project have already faced resistance, but some southern Indiana officials are hoping to do away with them on the Kennedy Bridge.Clarksville town council member Paul Fetter said the tolls would hurt southern Indiana commerce tremendously. It's a concern shared by local business owners.Schimpff's confectionery has been a Jeffersonville staple for nearly 122 years.They, like many businesses along the Interstate 65 corridor, are opposed to tolls on the Kennedy Bridge.\"Tolling we don't believe is a good thing because it's going to put a tax on people coming over here, going either way, but a lot of our business does come from Louisville,\" said Warren Schimpff.According to an economic study by the Indiana Finance Authority, having to pay to cross the Downtown Bridge will negatively impact the region by more than $7 billion.That same study said the East End Bridge will add $78 billion to the area.\"My proposal was if there's such a great positive economic impact from the East End Crossing, that the state should try to capture some of the tax revenue from that positive impact to mitigate the $7 billion negative,\" Fetter said.Fetter and other local officials have joined together to take their plan to the governor's office.Schimpff said it was long battle to get people to cross the Ohio to shop in the first place.He said tolls reverse all that's been accomplished.\"They've been broken down the last 20 some years. We've worked hard to promote that and we're putting up another barrier, tolls going in either direction,\" he said.Fetter said his plan would prevent that barrier from ever going up.\"That would be what's most beneficial to the communities of southern Indiana,\" he said.Fetter also said Ind. Gov. Mike Pence has not responded to the proposal, but in the past Pence has said he will honor the agreement made under the previous administration.The cost of the tolls have not been determined."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wlky.com/article/s-ind-leaders-develop-proposal-to-avoid-tolling-1/3743031>