State commission delays update to five-year road plan

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The state transportation commission is delaying a regular update to its five-year road plan because of the defeat of a proposed tax increase and continued debate over how to divide future road money.

Commissioners acknowledged Thursday they could take some criticism for once again saying they would do something and then not following through.

But by delaying plans for fiscal 2007 road projects, Department of Transportation staff said they could put together a better, more comprehensive plan encompassing fiscal years 2007 and 2008.

In the meantime, the department will continue to operate under a plan that goes through fiscal 2006 and which directs half of the state's road and bridge funds to the St. Louis and Kansas City areas and the other half to the rest of the state.

Commissioners had put off an annual update on their road plan pending a statewide vote on a roughly $500 million tax proposal, which was overwhelmingly defeated in August.

At the same time, commissioners have been discussing whether, or how, to alter the statewide funding distribution for future years.

By now, time constraints make it impractical to try to add fiscal year 2007 to the road plan, said chief engineer Kevin Keith. Commissioners are to submit an annual accountability report to legislators Nov. 8 with an explanation of why they aren't updating the road plan this year.

Fundamentally, the commission is faced with two problems -- a lack of money to meet all of the state's transportation needs and a lack of public trust, demonstrated most recently by the defeat of the tax proposal.

Commissioners nodded their approval Thursday to a strategic plan for the department staff which focuses first on taking better care of the existing roads and bridges, second on finishing projects already started and third on building public trust.

"To a lot of people, credibility is a smooth road, and we don't have enough smooth roads," said department director Henry Hungerbeeler.

The state expects to have a total of $4.7 billion available for roads and bridges during the 2004 through 2008 fiscal years.

Under proposed funding scenarios, about $1.3 billion of that would go toward commitments made under the existing five-year road plan; $46 million would go to economic development projects; and $916 million would go toward unfinished projects from a 1987 plan and from a more recent bond-financing list.

That would leave almost $1.4 billion for commissioners to decide how to spend. Under three options discussed Thursday, most of that would go toward taking care of existing roads, but it was unclear what criteria would be used to determine which roads get fixed.

The three options range from committing all of the money to leaving about $200 million available for other projects or unforeseen expenses.

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Department of Transportation: http://www.modot.state.mo.us