Report, paid for by contractors, says state needs better roads

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Just two weeks before voters consider raising taxes to fix Missouri's roads, a report paid for by highway contractors finds the state has the third-worst major roads in the nation.

The report released Tuesday was written by The Road Information Program, an organization based in Washington, D.C., which prepared the Missouri specifics at the behest of the Associated General Contractors of Missouri. Highway contractors nationwide paid for the overall report.

Voters on Aug. 6 will consider approving a tax package that would raise $483 million for transportation projects, mostly paying for road improvements. If voters approve Proposition B, Missouri's sales tax would increase half a cent to 4.725 percent and its gas tax would rise 4 cents to 21 cents a gallon.

Proponents said the report bolsters the case for passing Proposition B.

"It shows there's no doubt about the need" for Proposition B, said Rodney Gray, co-chairman of the Time for Missouri Committee, a coalition of business groups and highway contractors in favor of the ballot initiative.

But opponents of Proposition B said the timing of the report, and the fact that it was funded by the heavy-construction industry, was questionable.

"When you look at the list of folks that belong to that group, it involves people that are involved in the road construction business," said state Sen. Larry Rohrbach, R-California, who is co-chairman of the No on B Committee. "You need to take what they say with a grain of salt."