Same MoDOT story: Funding for maintenance, not improvements, engineer says

Missouri Department of Transportation area engineer Chris Rutledge said his organization is in a position similar to past years: equipped to address maintenance concerns, but short of the capital necessary for large improvement projects.

In delivering a presentation during the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce’s First Friday Coffee, Rutledge said the transportation system should be a priority as a matter of course.

“Did anyone get here today by road or by street?” he joked. “Show of hands?”

But he said Missouri voters would have to have a “conversation” about funding before major upgrades could become feasible.

State Rep. Kathy Swan, who attended the breakfast, said the situation Rutledge described has been the status quo for years.

“We know we need to do something, so we’ve had numerous discussions at the state and local level as to what [new funding models] might look like,” Swan said.

The possibilities, she said, include toll roads, privatization of portions of highway, gas taxes and others. But so far, all have been hypothetical.

She said she hopes to see a solution that would let Missouri residents vote directly on proposed priorities.

“That has worked for us in Cape Girardeau,” she said. “I think it’s worth looking into at the state level.”

Such a representative solution would seem to be in line with the way Rutledge described MoDOT’s guiding principles. The transportation system, he said, represents billions of dollars in investment, and his organization feels compelled to ensure citizens in all parts of the state have access to that system.

“There’s inherently a need to have fairness with regards to transportation,” he said.

While the long-range update plan, Rutledge said, is in too early of a stage at this point to reveal, it is informed by several emerging trends MoDOT has discovered.

“There is a focus on living in regional centers and urban areas,” he said. “Two-thirds of [MoDOT’s survey] respondents were 40 or older.”

The results show fewer young people — especially teenagers — are driving. And MoDOT also has to contend with technologies such as self-driving cars, which increasingly promise to disrupt travel routines.

“We’re facing these technologies now,” he said. “Do we have a transportation system to address that? To be honest, right now no, at least nationwide.”

But the findings are helping to design appropriate long-term priorities, which he said will be published in the spring.

Swan said from her perspective, one major sticking point in terms of transportation funding has been figuring out a way to ensure equitable distribution of resources.

“We want to make sure it’s going to benefit the entire state,” she said.

She said the best way for area residents to join the conversation about the transportation system is to attend the next 21st Century Missouri Transportation Task Force meeting. The meeting will be 1 p.m. Nov. 15. The location of that meeting is listed as to be determined on the Missouri public transit website.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627