Southeast District seeks $47.5M in road projects in first round of new MoDOT projects

A public meeting will be held Thursday in Cape Girardeau to get public input as the state determines how to spend $4.5 billion in new road and bridge money.

The Southeast District has identified $47.5 million in projects for tier one as high priority, unfunded road and bridge needs, according to information released by the Missouri Department of Transportation. Funds come from the approval in July of an additional 12.5-cent motor fuel tax.

The priority needs list was formulated by speaking with partners, including at meetings held by Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission with area county commissioners and community members, explained Andrew Murphy, transportation planning coordinator with the OFRPC.

“We prioritize projects at the local level,” Murphy explained. “We cover five counties: Butler, Carter, Reynolds, Ripley and Wayne. Then MoDOT met with other regional planning commissions in our district, there are four RPCs and one metropolitan planning organization, to prioritize at the (Southeast) district level. MoDOT then prioritizes at the state level.”

Thursday’s meeting, which will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Osage Centre, is part of the state prioritization process.

The draft project-specific lists include $4.5 billion of road and bridge projects in three tiers, MoDOT said.

Tier one includes $543 million and includes projects the state could accomplish in the time of the current five-year Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) as federal and state funding levels increase.

Tier two is worth $2.1 billion and includes projects beyond the current STIP timeframe with broader estimates.

Tier three includes $2.2 billion of projects that are also beyond the current STIP time frame with broader estimates.

In addition, MoDOT staff worked with the planning partners to identify $1 billion in multimodal needs.

“Once projects are in the STIP, that’s a commitment to it happening,” Murphy said. “Once you get the project in there, it’s a pretty big deal.”

Tier one projects for the Southeast District currently include: $720,000, addition of rumble strips to Carter County Route D from County Road 123 to Business 60; $832,000 for culvert replacements on Wayne County Route A, near Highway 67; $1.7 million in pavement resurfacing for Stoddard County Route N, from Highway 91 to Highway 60; $1.6 million to add turning lanes to Dunklin County Business 25, from Highway 25 to Highway 62; $919,000 for bridge replacement of Carter County Route N over Brushy Creek; and $1.6 million to add rumblestrips to Dunklin County Route J from Highway 53 to Business 25; as well as other projects.

The Southeast District stretches from Wright and Ozark counties to the west to the Mississippi River at the east and from Ste. Genevieve County to the Arkansas border.

Murphy said if the current process follows previous MoDOT timelines, the final tier one approved STIP projects should be announced in the summer of 2022.

The multimodal portion of the project would provide additional grant money for cities and counties to assist with projects such as trails and sidewalks, as well as airport and railroad work, Murphy said.

It is a long, slow process typically to get projects to the funding stage, he said, and many communities have seen a backlog of work while funding was short.

It can take five to eight years to get a project moved from the local level to the state funding approval, he said, so many of the current tier one projects have been in the works for a while.

The Southeast District also has a total of $213 million in tier two projects up for consideration, and $175 million in tier three projects.

“Even with additional revenue, transportation needs greatly outweigh funding available, and the challenge is determining the optimal projects to fund that provide the greatest return on investment to taxpayers,” said MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna. “Across every region of the state, feedback from Missourians has consistently prioritized maintaining the existing system as the highest priority.

“Other priorities include projects that improve safety, spur economic growth, and provide more transportation choices. We value Missourians’ input in this new draft as we work to prioritize the increasing federal and state transportation revenue.”

The draft document and comment form will be available online through Dec. 22. For more information, call MoDOT at 888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636) or visit www.modot.org.