MoDOT hopes for brighter future with new director

Business Today

JEFFERSON CITY -- Try as it might, the Missouri Department of Transportation has been unable to bury the past.

For six years, the department and its governing board, the State Highways and Transportation Commission, have dealt with an intense public backlash stemming from broken promises to deliver a substantially upgraded highway system. Efforts to rebuild trust have achieved little success, and the nearly 3-to-1 voter rejection of a $483 million transportation tax package two years ago bluntly illustrated the departments credibility problem.

MoDOT may not quite need a miracle worker to turn the situation around, but that is what commissioners hope they are getting in Pete Rahn, whom they named as director of the embattled agency in late August.

Commissioner Jim Anderson of Springfield, who led the nationwide directors search, called Rahn, a former New Mexico transportation secretary, an agent of positive change.

"We wanted someone that could walk on the Missouri River and think that we've come pretty close," Anderson said.

Rahn, who will assume his duties Sept. 15, ambitiously intends to achieve the impossible and make Missouri's transportation system to envy of the nation.

"There are those today who say that it is impossible for us to have the greatest transportation system in the country," Rahn said. "That's the impossibility, and that is going to make the accomplishment of it all that much more satisfactory."

During his eight years running the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department, Rahn earned a reputation for honesty and innovative thinking.

State Sen. Shannon Robinson, a Democratic member of the New Mexico Senates transportation committee, said Rahn, a Republican, will make Missouri proud.

In particular, Rahn advocated borrowing money through the sale of bonds to finance major projects in New Mexico.

Missouri traditionally has relied on a pay-as-you-go approach to road improvements. The General Assembly in 2000 authorized MoDOT to sell up to $2.25 billion in bonds to finance construction, but to date the commission has only sold $907 million in bonds due to concerns about getting too deeply in debt.

Rahn said bonding was the best solution for New Mexico but may not be for Missouri.

"I do not believe in borrowing money recklessly," Rahn said. "I believe it has to be a good business decision. The bottom line is it takes dollars to build and maintain roads."

Rahn isn't yet prepared to talk details about where that money should come from and acknowledged that trust of MoDOT needs to be rebuilt before Missourians are again asked to endorse a tax increase. Rahn promised to be aggressive on that front.

Rahn, 49, stepped down as New Mexico transportation secretary, a position served at the pleasure of the governor, in 2002 upon a change in administrations. Since that time he has served as vice president for Ohio-based Contech Construction Products Inc.

With an annual salary of $130,008, Rahn will be the second-highest paid state department head in Missouri.