TRANSPORTATION HEARING TODAY SEEKS IDEAS ABOUT ISSUES

Southeast Missouri residents will have an opportunity today to talk about transportation issues. The state's Total Transportation Commission will be at Drury Lodge from 1 to 7 o'clock to listen to what taxpayers, elected officials and representatives from chambers of commerce and economic development organizations have to say.

The hearing in Cape Girardeau is one of several being held around the state by the Total Transportation Commission, a 35-member group appointed by Gov. Mel Carnahan earlier this year. The commission's chairman is Steve Bradford of Hayti.

The commission is operating on several levels. One level is a response to the failure of recent increases in the state's fuel tax to produce enough revenue for promised highway improvements. Another level reflects the change in the name of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department to the Missouri Department of Transportation. These hearing will be just as interested in other forms of transportation -- air, river, rail -- as in highways.

Because the Missouri Constitution requires revenue from the state's fuel tax to be used on highways, there is some concern about generating funds for others forms of transportation. This is no clearer than in the split between urban and rural areas. Urban areas tend to focus on costly projects like mass transit that produce little benefit outside those areas. Rural areas tend to be more interested in highways and bridges.

It was a major and expensive program of highway and bridge construction that brought the state to the point where a statewide commission has been put in place. Many Missourians thought an increase in the fuel tax they approved, followed by another phased-in jump in the fuel tax imposed by the General Assembly, would produce enough revenue to take care of highway needs into the next century.

But less federal funding and higher costs for some of the planned projects produced a huge revenue shortfall in the plan -- a deficiency that was recognized and addressed by state highway officials last year.

The Total Transportation Commission's hearings are geared to Big Picture topics: issues regarding transportation rather than specific projects. Nonetheless, some specifics are bound to be mentioned. For example, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce already has let the commission know of its concern about completing the promised highway projects and replacement funding for airport control-tower operations at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.