STAPLES CALLS FOR FIVE-YEAR ROAD PLAN; TOLL ROADS SUGGESTED

Missouri should implement a five-year highway plan rather than try to craft a more long-range plan, state Sen. Danny Staples said Friday.

Such a move could lead to a series of five-year plans that could prove more manageable, he said.

Staples, D-Eminence, said any proposed tax increase for transportation should be submitted to voters, but only if there is a specific plan that spells out each project that would be funded with the money and the timetable for each.

"It is not going to be something that we are going to slam dunk," he said.

Toll roads could offer a solution to Missouri's transportation needs, Staples said in an interview from his Eminence office.

Staples introduced legislation to authorize toll roads and bridges, but the measure never made it through the Legislature this session.

"I recommended toll bridges and toll roads from day one," he said.

Staples said that could offer a practical way to fund road projects.

"I don't want to pass a 10-cent gas tax," he said. "I don't want to go in debt for $800 million a year for the next 15 years," he said.

The Legislature recently cut taxes by $400 million a year and isn't likely to embrace a tax hike, he said.

Staples is a member of the state's Total Transportation Commission, which is drafting a plan to improve transportation systems in the state. But Staples hasn't attended commission meetings since January.

He said he doesn't plan to attend any more of the commission's meetings. That includes the group's final public hearing, set for Friday at Poplar Bluff.

The commission is expected to deliver its recommendations to Gov. Mel Carnahan by mid-summer. The governor appointed the commission last year to study Missouri's transportation needs, including an estimated $14 billion shortfall in a long-term highway construction plan.

Lawmakers and the voters could have the final say on funding transportation improvements.

Staples chairs the transportation committee in the Senate, which will play a key role in addressing any transportation plan.

Staples said he and other lawmakers remain skeptical about any new transportation plan because Missouri's 15-year plan hit a funding roadblock despite a 6-cent hike in the fuel tax that was phased in over the past five years.

He said the governor and the legislative leaders of both parties would have to be committed to any transportation plan to sell it successfully to voters.

The Total Transportation Commission had scheduled four public meetings as part of its second and final round of meetings.

Commissioners added a fifth and final meeting after hearing from Southeast Missouri residents who wanted the commission to meet in their region.

The first round of meetings in the final months of 1996 drew more than 1,000 Missourians.

Testimony was received from representatives of more than 150 organizations, local governments, and business and environmental groups.

"It is important that we consider the needs and everyday experience of the public before making any recommendations to the governor," said S. Lee Kling, commission chairman.

During the first round of meetings last fall, the commission held a hearing in Southeast Missouri. That meeting was held in November in Cape Girardeau.

The second round of hearings began May 21 in Kansas City. Meetings followed in St. Louis, Moberly and Joplin.

The Poplar Bluff meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn from 2-6 p.m. Friday.

Like the other second-round meetings, it will follow an informal, open-house format, said commission spokeswoman Susan Benton.

Benton said some 340 people attended the four, second-round meetings held this month.