TRANSPORTATION TOLLS: COMMISSION COMPOSING THIRD TRANSPORTATION PLAN THIS DECADE

Every Missourian who leaves his home will agree that the state has transportation needs.

City dwellers want to ensure there is public transportation to get them around. Airport managers want working control towers to divert disaster. Port authorities want rail spurs to serve their barges.

There are plenty of wants, but there isn't plenty of money. At Thursday's Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission meeting in Kansas City, commissioners announced they were committed to completing only projects planned through 1999.

Everything after that is underfunded. Joe Mickes, the Missouri Department of Transportation's chief engineer, said the shortfall was anywhere from $2 billion to $12 billion. The commission intends to reassess its 15-year plan to see what should stay and what shouldn't.

But there are more transportation needs to assess than road projects, and that's where the Total Transportation Commission of Missouri comes in. Hand-picked by Gov. Mel Carnahan, elected officials, businesspersons and special interest group representatives make up the 35-member commission.

Commissioners are traveling all over the state, conducting public hearings to discover what people feel their transportation needs are. Eight commission members attended the Cape Girardeau meeting on Nov. 21. They heard about Cape Girardeau's need for airport control tower funding and Pemiscot County's need for help with a port authority, among other things.

According to the commission's media packet, the members will present their findings to the governor, then recommend how modes of transportation can be coordinated in Missouri and how needs can be financed.

It's a good idea, according to Cape Girardeau attorney John Oliver, but it has been done before.

Oliver served on the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission from 1989-1995. The six-member, bipartisan commission is the governing body of the Transportation Department.

In Oliver's office are two bound documents, both labeled "Total Transportation Plan." One was printed in 1991, the other in 1992. Oliver was part of hearings all over the state to get input on transportation needs for the reports.

State Sen. Peter Kinder remembers other meetings. After his first election in November 1992, he sat through Senate Transportation Committee hearings in Cape Girardeau. The idea was to find out about the public's transportation needs.

Both Oliver and Kinder think the Total Transportation Commission is doing more of the same. This time, however, there is a specific goal.

"It is probably an attempt to build a case for either a huge bond issue for roads and mass transit or another tax increase," Kinder said. "I just wonder about the Total Transportation Commission when we have a constitutionally authorized transportation commission with power delegated to it."

Oliver's assessment was much the same.

"I would guess this is the touchy-feely way to get someone else in front to lead the way to some sort of tax," he said. "I think it will be a state-wide sales tax with so much money allocated for this and that."

Thomas Boland, chairman of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, said the Total Transportation Commission doesn't represent more of the same. He chaired the subcommittee that created previous reports when Oliver was on the MHTC.

Boland said the new report will look at things on a broader scope, something the MHTC doesn't have time to do.

"I am very comfortable with the Total Transportation Commission, and I'm looking forward to their report," he said.

It is costing between $500,000 and $600,000 to fund the TTC, although no exact figures were made available for this article. Most of that is going to HNTB Companies of Kansas City, which employs architects, planners and engineers. Several subcontractors are doing work, too.

HNTB won the project with its bid. In return, the company must fulfill several tasks in two phases. Included on the list is reviewing total transportation systems in other states, defining where Missouri's system should be in the next decade and determining costs of improvements and sources of new income.

The contractor is being paid with some federal funds earmarked for planning. The rest is coming from matching Missouri Department of Transportation funds, said Mickes, the department's chief engineer.

Mickes, also a member of the Total Transportation Commission, said now is the time for Missourians to reassess their transportation needs. Opportunities are available today that didn't exist when prior studies were done.

For example, Interstate 49, which runs from Shreveport, La., through part of Arkansas, may come into Missouri. Interstate 72 now ends in Springfield, Ill., but may come over the Mississippi River at Hannibal and run across northern Missouri.

Jim Gardner, communications director for the Department of Economic Development, looks at these improvements in terms of promoting the state's commerce. He said Ohio is one of Missouri's biggest competitors in landing new companies, and Ohio already has developed its total transportation plan.

"Missouri has more navigable river miles than any other state," Gardner said. "We are in the top 10 with highway miles. We have the second- and third-largest rail terminals in the U.S., and we have two international airports. We have a lot of transportation assets here. It's just a matter of pulling them all together, looking at the state as a whole and determining what's best for growth."

He said it is too soon to start looking at how to fund that growth, but there are a variety of possibilities. His list included toll roads, taxes and bonds.

The Total Transportation Commission's last public hearing is Monday in Maryville. S. Lee Kling, Total Transportation Commission chairman and a member of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, said he hears about different needs in all areas of the state.

"But everybody was concerned about the 15-year plan," Kling said. "Some people say, `Don't change a single thing in that plan.' Others say to change it."

He said the Total Transportation Commission is a larger, more diverse group than the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission. Thus, it will have a broader outlook on transportation needs.

The TTC is expected to complete its job and disband by May 31 at the latest.

MEMBERS OF TOTAL TRANSPORATION COMMISSION OF MISSOURI

The Total Transportation Commission is a 35-member group committed to determining the state's transportation needs. It conducted public hearings all over the state to get input from Missourians. The last one will be Monday in Maryville.

Members are:

-- S. Lee Kling, St. Louis, TTC chairman

Highway and Transportation Commission member

-- Steve Bradford, Hayti, TTC co-chairman

Former commissioner of administration

-- James B. Anderson, Springfield

Chamber of Commerce president

-- Harriet Beard, Kirksville

Missouri Highway Corridor Coalition chairperson

-- Richard E. Beumer, Maryland Heights

Sverdrup Corp. chief executive officer

-- Joan Bray, St. Louis

State representative

-- Christopher J. Brescia, St. Louis

Midwest Area River Coalition president

-- George Burruss, Jefferson City

Missouri Motor Carriers Association president

-- Donnie Cox, Kingston

Caldwell County Eastern District commissioner

-- Elise Crain, Ozark

Crain Enterprises owner

-- Edward D. Douglas, Chillicothe

Highway and Transportation Commission member

-- Joseph L. Driskill, Jefferson City

Department of Economic Development director

-- Joseph T. Fahey, Grandview

J.M. Fahey Construction Co. president

-- Jo H. Frappier, Jefferson City

Missouri Chamber of Commerce president

-- Edna Freeman, St. Charles

Missouri Council of the Blind president

-- Estil Fretwell, Jefferson City

Missouri Farm Bureau

-- Samuel B. Graves, Tarkio

State senator

-- Richard Hanson, Jefferson City

Office of Administration commissioner

-- Michael L. Hartmann, Jefferson City

Governor's deputy chief of staff

-- Peter Herschend, Branson

Silver Dollar City co-founder

-- Bob Holden

State treasurer

-- Richard E. Hrabko, Chesterfield

Aviation adviser

-- Don Koller, Summersville

State representative

-- Gil Langley, Kansas City

Public Transit Association president

-- Pamela A. May, Camdenton

Chamber of Commerce president

-- Ron McLinden, Kansas City

Sierra Club

-- Joseph A. Mickes, Jefferson City

Department of Transportation chief engineer

-- Sandra M. Moore, Jefferson City

Department of Labor director

-- Michael J. Right, St. Louis

AAA Auto Club public affairs director

-- Henry H. Salisbury, Kansas City

Missouri Railroad Committee chairman

-- Jewel D. Scott, Kansas City

Civic Council of Greater Kansas City executive director

-- Barry L. Seward, Kansas City

Transportation and Development Council president

-- Reuben A. Shelton, St. Louis

Bi-State Development Agency commissioner

-- David A. Shorr, Jefferson City

Department of Natural Resources director

-- Danny Staples, Eminence

State senator