The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, which governs the state transportation department, yesterday approved a plan to work with a reduced budget expected in coming years.
Announced
last month, the initiative dubbed Missouri’s 325 System outlines what the Missouri Department of Transportation can do with a construction budget expected to fall to $325 million in 2017, according to a news release. Between 2005 and 2010, the transportation department’s annual construction budget averaged $1.3 billion, falling to $685 million last year, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.
“This action truly sets the stage to transform Missouri’s transportation system and dramatically change the way we do business,” commission Chairman Stephen Miller said in the release. “After years of making great progress on the condition of Missouri’s highways, we now face a future of watching our roads and bridges deteriorate.”
Under the plan, MoDOT only will be able to focus on about 8,000 of Missouri’s 34,000-mile state highway system. The agency’s construction budget would be used to keep the primary highways in the condition they’re in today. The remaining roads will receive only routine maintenance, such as filling potholes, patching pavement, and flushing and sealing bridge decks. Officials noted the funding would not be enough to keep Missouri’s supplementary roads from eventually deteriorating.
"Missouri has the seventh largest highway system in the nation, but we rank 46th in revenue per mile," MoDOT Director Dave Nichols said in the release. "This plan prioritizes what we do with that shrinking revenue, but the only way to truly change Missouri's status is to find a long-term funding solution."
MoDOT estimates it needs another $160 million per year in new state funds to match available federal funds, keep up with the entire highway system, reinstate its cost-share program and potentially institute a flexible fund for regional transportation needs.
One proposal to shore up funding for transportation was shot down last year, when voters in November said no to a 3/4-cent transportation sales tax. Gov. Jay Nixon since has ordered his administration to explore the possibility of installing tollbooths on Interstate 70, according to SBJ archives.[[In-content Ad]]
