GROUP CALLS FOR NEW ROAD PLAN; VOTERS SHOULD DECIDE, THEY SAY

Two statewide citizens groups want the Missouri Legislature to develop and submit to voters a new transportation-and-tax plan.

They say the plan is needed because the state Highways and Transportation Commission scrapped the 15-year highway plan.

The groups are the Missouri Transportation and Development Council and the Missouri Highway Corridor Coalition.

The Transportation and Development Council in Jefferson City has about 800 members. They include engineers, contractors, economic development officials, business groups and community leaders.

The Missouri Highway Corridor Coalition is a group of more than 350 community leaders from largely rural areas of the state.

The groups want the Legislature's transportation oversight committee to take the lead in developing a new plan for road and bridge improvements that can realistically be funded.

Neither group has proposed a specific tax measure.

Stan Burnette, director of operations for the Transportation and Development Council, said there isn't any point talking about a specific tax or tax amount until a plan is developed outlining all needed transportation projects.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials have said the 15-year highway plan approved by the Legislature in 1992 is underfunded and the projects can't be constructed as scheduled.

The highway commission and MoDOT have replaced the 15-year plan with a more limited and less expensive five-year plan of road and bridge projects.

Burnette said the five-year plan isn't the answer. It is "only what they can do with the existing money, and it does not meet our needs," Burnette said.

It doesn't begin to address all the state's transportation needs, he said.

"We are going to solve our problems in Missouri with a public vote," said Burnette.

Larry Henderson of Versailles agreed. He heads the Highway Corridor Coalition.

"Our communities are just now figuring out which of their long-promised projects are beyond the five-year plan and so may never be built," said Henderson.

"We want to see the Legislature get moving with a new plan that will address our needs," he said.

MoDOT officials acknowledge that the rolling, five-year plan is limited in scope and funding. MoDOT spokesman Jeff Briggs said, "This is simply a way that we can do the best we can without more funding."

It is up to the Legislature and the public to decide the level of funding for road and bridge improvements statewide.

"We are not pushing for anything," Briggs said Friday.

Both citizens groups want to move beyond the political debate over the demise of the 15-year plan.

Burnette said, "We are tired of talking about who is right and who is wrong."

He said the state needs to improve its roads and bridges in timely fashion, including rebuilding parts of badly deteriorated Interstate 70.

"We are not interested in talking about something that will take 25 years," said Burnette.

A new highway plan probably should detail projects for a 10- or 15-year period, he said. Any plan and related tax package needs to be approved by voters, Burnette said.

Lawmakers shouldn't enact a new tax plan for roads and bridges without voter approval as was done in 1992 with the 15-year plan, he said.