The difference is that, unlike most taxes that Utahns can't avoid, motorists would have alternatives to the toll roads or, more reflective of current discussions, toll lanes, that will likely become a part of the state's transportation plan.

Although Utahns have said in polls that they don't like the idea of toll lanes or toll roads, both make sense as a way to help pay the $16.5 billion bill for adequate roadways to convey Utahns from one place to another over the next 25 years. And they offer, for a small fee, a way for people to avoid time-killing gridlock.

Toll roads and lanes also would allow the state to collect the user fee from people passing through Utah who otherwise might contribute only the tax on a tank of gas.

The Utah Department of Transportation is studying how to impose tolls on the I-15 car-pool lanes. The idea being floated now would allow car poolers to continue taking advantage of the lightly traveled lane for free, while a toll would be collected from solo drivers, probably in the form of a sticker on the vehicle.

If the state Transportation Commission goes along, some type of toll HOV, or HOT, lane could be in use as early as 2007. That would be none too soon.

UDOT is also considering making the planned Mountain View Corridor highway a toll road. If the Legacy Highway is ever built, it, too, would be a candidate for toll collections. Motorists traveling those routes could choose alternative, toll-free highways.

Toll roads have long been a fact of life for motorists in congested Eastern and Western coastal cities and in Midwestern states, where they have helped to pay transportation costs. Many of those systems include electronic billing and bulk discount rates similar to the reduced fares Utah Transit Authority riders get when they buy monthly passes.

Toll roads and HOT lanes belong in the mix, along with other road-funding sources and public-transit options, as part of a total transportation package that is both sound and supportable.