On Aug. 23, the Star Tribune published a well-balanced article about the current Stillwater bridge project. It would cost taxpayers $668.5 million -- and counting -- to put a four-lane freeway bridge from bluff to bluff to handle about 16,000 vehicles a day. That is more than twice what the new bridge over the Mississippi River at Hastings is going to cost, and that is a much more heavily traveled corridor.

The Stillwater river crossing solution has not been reexamined in 20 years and does not reflect current concerns about urban sprawl, carbon footprints and national energy security. It doesn't consider multimodal transportation either -- just cars and trucks. It is out of step with current and future state and national infrastructure planning and investment. The environmental and recreational impact on this wild and scenic river has been given short shrift. And the city of Stillwater would still have a highway running through it with continued traffic snarls.

Then, just two days later, the Star Tribune reported that the Minnesota Department of Transportation will be short $50 billion for the next 20 years to do critical upgrading of the state's existing roads and bridges!

It's time to get our priorities straight here. Let's rethink what the Stillwater river crossing could be and work out something more reasonable in size, cost and environmental impact. Taxpayers in Minnesota can put $668.5 million in state and federal transportation funding to much better use.

JEFF HAZEN, BLOOMINGTON