For the past four years, my early morning commute has started with a merge onto Interstate 70 westbound at Highway 79. Westbound vehicles move quickly and at speed limit, but the traffic heading east toward St. Louis County normally moves slow and often bumper-to-bumper.

Though my commute likely is longer than most others, traveling 97 miles to Columbia, Mo., I actually feel sorry for those road warriors heading to St. Louis city or county. I used to do the commute to St. Louis City, but now I rarely need to contend with the bumper-to-bumper madness, and my drive is on the verge of being classified as peaceful.

So what is the solution to the consistent issue of morning eastbound traffic jams and afternoon westbound traffic jams? I believe the solution is a mass-transit system.

I used the Bi-State (now called Metro) bus system 20 years ago when our family lived in north St. Louis County and I worked in the city. My stop was the first picked up and the last dropped off. The commute was an hour, and I spent the time reading newspapers in the morning and doing homework or reading technical journals in the afternoon. The time and convenience of letting someone else drive allowed me opportunity to read, learn new skills and complete a graduate degree.

I was also pleased to use the wonderful mass-transit system in Washington, D.C. During a six-year stretch in the 1990s my job regularly took me to the District of Columbia. Being able to fly into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (then it was called "National"), step onto the Metro and be whisked away to a station no farther than a block or two from the hotel made travel to the district tolerable. No need for a rental car, navigating traffic, parking, gas stops or driving to the airport under less than certain directions.

My business trips to Chicago have always included getting to and from the airport via the "L." Regardless of your feelings toward the ineffective Cubs, Chicago follows the pattern of world-class cities by maintaining an effective mass-transit system. In the heart of downtown Chicago is the Loop, where all the rails come together and is an experience in itself with nine separate stations.

Writing about the commonality of excellent transit systems in world-class cities, I would be remiss if I did not mention our dependence on public transportation during our recent celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary, visiting Rome, Italy and Paris.

Since we moved into St. Charles County 15 years ago, there has been much reasoning on why the county's voters in the 1990s twice turned down a tax proposal intended to extend the Metro light-rail system to the county. The justifications range from the laughable point of view that the "crime element" would ride the train from St. Louis, to the much more real issue of increased taxes.

It is also evident that Metro has had its share of public relations problems, but new management appears to be working through the long-standing systematic problems and sharing corrective measures with the public. So the arguments against a Metro extension are eroding away, with the exception of increased taxes.

During the past 20 years, more bridges have been built and lanes added to highways, yet traffic seems to get worse. Mass transit is economically better and allows families to save money for more important things in life. The greater St. Louis region is interconnected, and as our county grows in population and develops a business base, we must recognize that many of our neighbors work across the river in order to support their families and the businesses here.

Extending light rail is less expensive than building more bridges, preserves income for working families, keeps more dollars to spend in our county, and generally works as a catalyst for economic development and convenience.

We should not wait for more bridges to be built or for the price of gasoline to permanently increase above $4 per gallon. Now is the time to reconsider the Metro extension.

Kevin Palmer of St. Peters is chief information officer for Columbia College. Opinion Shapers are chosen annually to write columns on topics of interest to them.