MODOT GIVEN SUGGESTIONS ON HIGHWAYS

SIKESTON -- Residents in the Sikeston area want the state's highways and bridges fixed and would like to see money spent on expanding airports and providing public transportation in the region.

About 25 people gathered Thursday evening at the Missouri Department of Transportation office in Sikeston for a consensus-building session designed to address long-range transportation needs. Forty-five people had said they would attend.

The names of those in attendance were selected at random through a sampling of names taken from telephone directories for the area. Most of the people were from Sikeston, Miner, Blodgett and Matthews.

Thursday's session with the public was the second of the day. An earlier afternoon session included "stakeholders," people like city and county officials and regional planning board members.

MoDOT officials wanted to get a feel for what Missourians think the state's transportation needs are, so they set up a series of focus group meetings with both officials and the general public. The last meeting will be Tuesday in Rolla. Other sites included St. Joseph, Hannibal and Joplin.

Bob Ward of Sikeston said: " I think it's a good thing. It's about time somebody finally asked us and not just because it's my opinion, but everybody needs to have input on this."

People who attended the two-hour meeting were asked to assign a monetary amount to each of five transportation categories: aviation, bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, highways, passenger rail and bus service between cities, and public transportation.

An amount was set at $100 so that numbers would be round figures. The allotments will not have any bearing on how the state determines funding for each transportation mode, said Shawn Barnes, public affairs coordinator for MoDOT.

The participants were divided into four tables and had to reach some agreement for how the money would be divided. After the first round, averages were determined for the whole group. After some discussion the groups were asked to rank their priorities again in case anything changed.

Most of the priority rankings remained the same, which held true for nearly all the previous meetings. In Sikeston, highways ranked the No. 1 priority followed by aviation, public transportation, passenger rail and bus service, and finally pedestrian and bike accommodations.

Dorothy Blissett drives the area's roads every day with her job. "It's important that they are in good shape," she said. But public transportation is also important for people with low incomes who cannot afford a vehicle or those who cannot drive.

Blissett works primarily with low-income people. "They need to go here and there and wherever, and they need that access," she said.

Yet Shirley Sullivan said people need to think to the future and how transportation might change. People now are relying on highways as a major means of transportation, but what if buses or train systems were more available?

"You can't put all your eggs in one basket or you could have scrambled eggs," she said.

Aviation also got a top ranking because of its role in economic development. Ward said new businesses that move into an area often ask about airports and need that access to move goods, materials and people.

"We've got to be accessible," he said. Another group agreed and noted the global impact and how air travel is necessary to stay in contact.

Public transportation, particularly for the elderly, ranked high with the group. Access to medical services is important for both the elderly and the disabled, the participants said.

Passenger rail and bus service and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations ranked low on the list primarily because people didn't see them as necessities. They were considered issues for larger cities and metropolitan areas, not rural regions.

The rankings for each meeting around the state will be compiled in a statewide average. Those numbers will help MoDOT determine how best to develop a long-range plan that addresses public concerns.

The department's long-range plan won't be project specific as it had in the past, but will gear more to categories of transportation, Barnes said. "It helps us determine what's relevant based on the five modes of transportation."

And the meetings give people an opportunity to realize that MoDOT isn't just a highway and bridges department, but that other forms of transportation have to be considered, he said.