Transportation project list approved by planning board

The Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization board of directors Wednesday unanimously approved the final transportation project list to be submitted to the Missouri Department of Transportation by the end of the month.

Topping the group's recommended projects are Interstate 55 corridor interchange improvements from Fruitland to Scott City and improvements to U.S. 61 between the I-55/Fruitland interchange and highways 34/72.

Consultant Tracey Glenn of Glennview Strategies said the top 10 projects on the list were prioritized using a scoring tool and recommendations from the Technical Planning Committee, a subcommittee of SEMPO, in an earlier meeting Wednesday. The rest of the 41 projects were prioritized using only the scoring tool.

The scoring tool is based on four transportation priorities MoDOT originated during its "Missouri on the Move" campaign last year. Those priorities are maintenance, safety, economic development and transportation choices.

The total cost of the first 10 projects, representing all modes of transportation, comes in at about $190 million -- a large chunk of that coming from the I-55 project that has an estimated price tag of between $110 million and $125 million.

Molly Hood, assistant Cape Girardeau city manager and director of Development Services, said the I-55 project may be broken into smaller projects after discussions with MoDOT, potentially cutting the cost of the major project by half.

Should cost cuts have to be made, they would first come from the I-55 project, and then work their way up the list from the 10th project, Glenn said during the meeting.

The rounded cost of $190 million does not include the cost of improving urban and rural transit services in Cape Girardeau, listed as No. 7, said Ryan Shrimplin, Cape Girardeau city planner.

Maintenance projects also were not included in the list at MoDOT's request.

Shrimplin and Hood said they would need to clarify and "flesh out" the project proposals with representatives from MoDOT. Some proposals were repeat requests from planning organizations and some were submitted by the public.

The MPO in March hosted public meetings to give the people the opportunity to offer ideas for needed transportation projects.

MoDOT director Dave Nichols said the agency's budget, funded primarily through fuel taxes, is expected to decrease over the next couple of years, according to previous reports.

House Joint Resolution 68 proposes a constitutional amendment imposing a 1 percent temporary increase in the state sales and use tax for transportation projects that would sunset in 10 years.

Planning organizations every year develop a list of needed transportation projects that could be funded by the motor fuel tax -- a tax that only funds road and bridge projects. Funding for other transit projects must be lobbied for.

Should the legislation pass, however, the revenue would help fund projects for other modes of transportation, as well, including bike/pedestrian, rail, waterway and aviation.

The proposed 1-cent sales tax could generate an estimated $7 billion to be used for improvements to all modes of transportation in the state, Glenn said. Of that, approximately $500 million could be poured into the Southeast Missouri district for transit improvements, which then would be divided equally among five planning organizations representing different groups of Southeast Missouri counties. SEMPO covers Cape Girardeau, Jackson, portions of Cape Girardeau County and Scott County, as well as portions of the Village of East Cape Girardeau and Alexander County, Ill.

After all five planning organizations in the Southeast District submit their transportation project lists to the district by the end-of-the-month deadline, it has until June to combine and prioritize all lists into one that will be submitted to MoDOT chief engineer Ed Hassinger in Jefferson City, Mo., Glenn explained. He then will create and prioritize a statewide transportation project list using the districts' lists, which could then be published should there be a ballot issue.

The resolution has been approved by the House and must now pass through the Senate before being brought before voters on the November ballot, Glenn said. A similar bill failed in the Missouri Legislature last year.

The legislative session ends May 16, and it will be known by then or sooner whether the Legislature votes to put the item on the November ballot, she said.

MoDOT representatives also asked the board whether money should be taken "off the top" before it is distributed throughout the state for Interstate 70 and Amtrak projects, or allow the two projects to stand on their own, risking having no funds left to upgrade I-70. The board unanimously agreed to let the projects stand on their own and work through the system the same as other projects.

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