Transportation needs grow as funding debate continues

HERMANN, Mo. -- With its high-arching, silver-painted steel, the bridge over the Missouri River provides a quaint entrance to this German tourist town known for its fine wine and bed-and-breakfasts.

Quaint to look at, that is.

Scary to drive over.

The vintage 1930 bridge has lanes so narrow that motorists are warned to slow to 35 mph and heavy trucks to 15 mph. Still, scores of side vehicle mirrors get knocked off as big rigs and school buses meet.

"It has served the state well for 71 years," says local resident Jon Held. "Unfortunately, it was developed for the Model-T Ford and horse and buggy."

The state plans to replace the bridge but has no money to actually do so -- not unless transportation revenues are raised by $600 million annually.

Necessity undisputed

The residents of Hermann are not alone in their frustration. All over Missouri, there are poor roads and bridges that no one disputes need replacing. Yet the projects cannot be done without more money.

State lawmakers, in their session that starts Wednesday, will be making another try at a new transportation funding plan. Last year's efforts failed. And transportation officials, citing a fear of incurring too much debt, plan to issue less than half of the $2.25 billion in highway bonds that lawmakers authorized in the 2000 session.

The Missouri Department of Transportation, which received less money than expected last year through taxes and fees, says it needs $1 billion more annually if it is to meet all the state's transportation needs.

That is unlikely to occur.

Yet despite a recession and forecasts of falling state revenues, there are several factors that increase the chances that the Legislature will refer a transportation tax plan to the ballot:

A change in membership on the state Highways and Transportation Commission has muted the criticism of some of its harshest legislative opponents, who claimed the commission favored certain areas of the state over others.

The Missouri Farm Bureau, one of the state's most powerful grass-roots groups, has dropped its opposition to a transportation tax increase and instead adopted a supportive policy, if certain conditions are met.

Some key Republican senators, including Transportation Committee Chairman Morris Westfall of Halfway, have expressed a new openness to additional transportation taxes.

In part to spur lawmakers, the transportation department has prepared a stratified 10-year plan, showing what would be accomplished with no new money vs. what could be done with another $200 million, $400 million or $600 million annually.

The bridge at Hermann falls in the category of possible projects requiring another $600 million.

Another $400 million could allow expansion of the MetroLink light rail system in St. Louis, as well as the purchase of 50 more feeder buses.

Another $200 million could allow the four-laning of U.S. 61 from Wayland to Canton, a project that a high school group has been advocating in both Jefferson City and Washington since several classmates were killed in accidents.

None of those projects is guaranteed if more money is approved. The transportation department wants to avoid making new promises after recently breaking its old ones.

A 15-year spending blueprint, adopted in 1992 along with a 6-cent motor fuel tax increase, promised a four-lane road connecting every town of at least 5,000 residents.

That proved impossible with the money available. So the transportation commission abandoned the plan in 1998 and adopted a five-year plan, which it updates annually.

The move angered many rural lawmakers because the old plan favored their areas; the current funding formula gives half the money to the St. Louis and Kansas City areas and the other half to the rest of the state.

Turning to feds

The Hermann bridge was not in the 15-year plan -- an oversight that local officials believe has kept the bridge from gaining a higher priority even now.

That's why Held, general manager of Stone Hill Wine Co. and chairman of the Highway 19 Missouri River Bridge Transportation Corp., is willing to support almost any transportation tax plan that is proposed.

He's not banking solely on the state Legislature. He also is turning to federal lawmakers and anyone else who could help.

Through Sen. Kit Bond and Rep. Kenny Hulshof, the Hermann bridge has received $6.5 million in federal funds. But the cost of building a bridge and removing the old one has been estimated at $26 million, and that doesn't include $1.5 million already spent on the project design.