Transportation chief, governor celebrate road project completion

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt joined Transportation director Pete Rahn on Friday to celebrate completion of the agency's "Smooth Roads" plan to repave 2,200 miles of heavily traveled roads a year ahead of schedule.

"They met a very real challenge," Blunt said at a chilly morning news conference along U.S. 54 a few miles south of Jefferson City, as highway traffic whizzed along behind him. "This is a great gift for the people of Missouri."

In January, Blunt challenged the Transportation Department -- which he does not control -- to finish the work ahead of its scheduled completion at the end of 2007.

"We have delivered," Rahn said. "The state of Missouri is better for the challenge, and we know Missouri's roads are better as well."

Rahn said accelerating the projects had a net cost of about $10 million but was worth it in lives saved, injuries prevented, better fuel efficiency for drivers and repair jobs avoided.

"The benefits Missouri has received for that expenditure is phenomenal," he said.

The smooth roads initiative focused on repaving, re-striping and making other safety improvements on the 2,200 most traveled miles of the state's 32,000 miles of roads. The department has said those 2,200 miles carry 60 percent of the state's traffic volume and are within 10 miles of 86 percent of residents.

The plan included 223 projects and cost $388 million, the agency said.

The department said that when work on the projects started in April 2005, three-fourths of those 2,200 miles of roads were in fair or poor condition. Now, the department said, more than 70 percent of the state's major roadways, which encompass about 5,500 miles, are in good condition, whereas just 47 percent of them were two years ago.

Rahn said the improvements equate to $383 per year per motorist saved in vehicle maintenance.

The last "smooth roads" project was completed just before Thanksgiving, department officials said.

The money for the project comes from a constitutional amendment voters passed in 2004 that directed all vehicle sales taxes to roads and bridges, instead of sending some to the state's general revenues. It also reduced the amount of road-fund revenues, such as fuel taxes and driver's license fees, that go to other state agencies performing transportation-related duties.

The Transportation Department said the "smooth roads" plan resulted in the department's largest-ever construction seasons in 2005 and 2006. The projects used more than 12.8 million tons of asphalt -- more than double the amount for a typical two-year period -- and crews installed more than 188,000 signs, 12,000 emergency markers and 150,000 guardrail and guard cable reflectors.