OFFICIAL VIEWS HIGHWAYS' FUTURE

Harry Morley, chairman of the Highway and Transportation Commission, urged members of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Wednesday to consider the future growth possibilities of state commerce through the enhancement of its transportation system.

Morley told members and local dignitaries at the chamber's Surface Transportation Committee's annual Highway Dinner that the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department is moving to pay special attention to more forms of intermodal transportation throughout the state. This, he said, connects the state with the rest of the world.

"We are no longer building highways alone," said Morley. "Now we are looking at transportation corridors which would connect Missouri with both coasts, thus giving us international commerce capacity."

But before Cape Girardeau or any other part of Missouri gets connected to the world, the funding has to be available from state and federal agencies -- money the highway department currently is not receiving.

"I was once told that Germany has 33,000 miles of highway within its borders, most of which are primary roadways and interstates," said Morley. "Every year, Germany spends $10 billion on their roads.

"In Missouri, we have 32,000 miles of roadways criss-crossing the state," he continued. "Our annual budget for repairs and improvements is $400,000."

But Morley said headway is being made to change that figure.

The change started in 1987 when voters approved Proposition A, raising the state fuel tax from 7 cents to 11 cents per gallon. Last year, the Missouri legislature approved a 6 cent increase to be phased in over five years.

So in the next 15 years, about $12.5 billion will be spent to build some 1,700 miles of new four-lane highways, improve two-lane roads and eliminate one-lane bridges.

"Even with that increase, we will only be spending about one-third of what Germany spends every year," Morley said. "We have a long way to go to bring our highways up to where they should be."

Another factor to keep in mind is that fossil fuels are finite and will dictate future transportation modes, said Morley. "We must stay on the cutting edge of this new technology and be a part of if, lest we be left behind," he said.

But the state has surged to the forefront, offering more than 4,500 miles of its highways and interstates for adoption into a national highway system established in recent congressional legislation.

The national highway system is designed to define and enhance routes that cross state lines, lead to ports or other depots of mass transportation and would enhance the defense system of the country.

"The federal government told us that Missouri would only have about 3,800-3,900 miles of roadway they would be interested in," Morley said. "But we believe secondary roads and highways are terribly important to the economic stability of this region and the state.

"We believed the idea of a transcontinental road program should not be exclusive of less-populated but highly productive regions," he continued. "So we turned in 4,500 miles of highway to the federal government, including highways 60, 72, 67 and 412."

Morley said the national highway system will be this area's ticket to move people, goods, machinery and technology created here to throughout the country, and maybe even the world.

But traditionally, Missouri has had a commercial strike against it because it does not have a deep-water port, connecting it with the rest of the world, Morley said.

"Therefore, improved intermodal transportation outlets are a necessity for us," he continued. "We must use this magnificent river, our railroad system, our airports and our interstates and we must be thinking intermodally.

"Right now, those communities -- particularly on the coasts -- are beneficiaries of deep water ports; their economies can look internationally," Morley said. "Here, we must analyze our ability to move goods domestically to international ports."

Morley said he believes legislation will be introduced in the next session of the legislature which will call for all to participate in the financing of public transportation.

"We have to be broader in our thinking and we must start planning for the next generation coming down the pipe," he said. "We have to be planning now for the future and look at transportation systems as truly systems to benefit us all."