LETTERS: MODOT NEEDS STRONG LEADERSHIP

To the editor:

I must disagree with your editorial arguing that it would be a mistake to replace the Highways and Transportation Commission with a state secretary of transportation.

Twelve years ago, I ran for mayor of the city I live in. The gentleman I ran against had served for nearly two decades. While he had success in the first part of his administration, in the later years things seemed to stagnate. I attribute most of the reason for the stagnation to attitude. One of his favorite replies to new ideas was, "We've been doing it this way for over 25 years, so why change now?"

The highway commission faces that same situation today. We've been doing it that way since 1928, so why change? Because times have changed. The needs of our state have changed.

The Missouri Department of Transportation now deals with a $1.5 billion budget each year and is asking for more. And it's not just highways anymore. It's multimodule, air, rail, barge and mass transportation. It's not just pouring concrete. It's labor relations, environmental impact and economic development. It's the future of our state in the balance.

Transportation has changed. We need more than a part-time, non-paid committee to cure what has become our state's biggest problem. Some would say, "Well, it's worked so far, hasn't it?" What do we have to show for dedication to this means of management? Our state ranks fifth in the nation among states with the most dangerous bridges.

The Proposition A road plan was never completed, and the 15-year plan was scrapped. The three-year short-term action plan was discarded, and the five-year rolling plan is now reduced to a 4 1/2-year plan and left open-ended. Why? Because MoDOT is in the process of delaying yet another long-range plan.

How many more failed plans do we have to have before we wake up and realize we need leadership to make any of this work. Our state needs a full-time person to implement, direct and follow through on a total transportation plan that addresses all our needs, both rural and urban.

STATE REP. CHUCK PRYOR

16th District

House of Representatives

Jefferson City