MoDOT starts thinking outside the box

The Missouri Department of Transportation is looking at some ideas that would produce more revenue for highways and other transportation needs.

Some of these ideas might be called thinking outside the box, but it's that kind of thinking the department needs right now.

One idea is to ask the Missouri Legislature to increase the state's 17-cent fuel tax by a couple of cents. Such an increase would generate about $70 million a year, which is under the cap set by the tax-limiting Hancock Amendment.

Another idea is to hand over some state-maintained highways in incorporated areas to local government, which would assume the maintenance costs and free up that funding for construction or maintenance elsewhere.

These ideas are nowhere near a formal recommendation, but it's this kind of thinking that will provide needed revenue rather than asking voters again to approve a massive revenue package that entails large tax increases.