Blunt soon will get chance to shape highway commission

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- On the campaign trail, Gov. Matt Blunt called for greater oversight of the Missouri Department of Transportation. In a few weeks, he will be able put his stamp on the agency's governing body.

Because of a 2003 statutory change, two seats on the State Highways and Transportation Commission -- one third of the panel's membership -- will be open as of March 1.

Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said the governor wants to appoint commissioners committed to change at the department.

"He is looking for individuals who share his belief that MoDOT can be operated more efficiently, and it should be more responsive to the needs of Missouri than it has been in recent years," Jackson said.

Since the commission has constitutional independence to run MoDOT largely free from meddling by the governor or the legislature, a governor's only chance to shape the department's policies is by appointing members. After the forthcoming round, Blunt's next scheduled opportunity to pick commissioners won't come until March 2007.

Five of the six current highway commissioners are appointees of the Republican Blunt's Democratic predecessor, Bob Holden.

Commissioners normally serve six-year terms. However, Holden's most recent selections -- Wallace Hartsfield of Kansas City and Larry Webber of Mexico -- were given only one-year terms last March. Their short tenures result from a 2-year-old law designed to provide regular commission turnover. Their replacements will get full terms.

Because of some grossly unpopular commission decisions in the late 1990s, MoDOT has continued to struggle with a public image problem. The agency has remained a favorite political target.

There are signs, however, that MoDOT may have finally turned a corner.

After years of department leaders being forced on the defensive, energetic new MoDOT director Pete Rahn, who enjoyed success in a similar post in New Mexico, was hired in September and immediately went on the offensive by aggressively working to repair relationships with the agency's critics.

MoDOT scored a major coup in November when Missouri voters, who resoundingly defeated a transportation tax proposal just two years earlier, passed a follow up funding measure -- Amendment 3 -- with 78.9 percent support.

Amendment 3 ends the state practice of diverting fuel taxes, vehicle taxes and fees to state agencies not directly involved in the construction or maintenance of state and local highways. It could redirect as much as $160 million phased in over a four-year period from those agencies to MoDOT.

"That was a watershed event for MoDOT," Rahn said. "Amendment 3 really put a spring in everybody's step."

After the election, the department moved quickly to identify nearly $800 million in projects it will undertake in the next several years using Amendment 3 revenue.

"The very aggressive schedule we are taking with Amendment 3 is indicative of a new MoDOT, a MoDOT focused on results," Rahn said.

As to the governor's call for greater efficiency at MoDOT, Rahn is already moving down that path. He has challenged department engineers to reduce cost estimates by 10 percent for projects that haven't yet been bid so the savings can be used to pay for additional construction. The intent is not to reduce the quality of projects but to eliminate unnecessary redundancies in design that Rahn said call for a "belt, suspenders and garters" and drive up costs.

"We have a feeling in the department that things are going well," Rahn said. "None of us, however, are taking that for granted."

mpowers@semissourian.com

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