MoDOT should do what's best for all

For more than four years, highway funding has been a major topic in Missouri. Finding revenue for the state's highways, bridges and other transportation needs has always been a major budget consideration. But when the Missouri Department of Transportation decided in 1998 that a six-cent increase in the state fuel tax wasn't enough to pay for an ambitious 15-year highway plan adopted in 1992, the future of Missouri's highways became a major concern.

Efforts to raise the money needed to do projects promised in the 15-year plan -- plus new needs and priorities -- have been unsuccessful. The only new influx of revenue into the state's highway program has come in the form of bonds authorized by the Missouri Legislature a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the legislature provided no mechanism for repaying the bonds, and MoDOT has sold only a portion of the authorized amount, recognizing that funding for future road projects could be imperiled by massive bond payments.

And voters have overwhelmingly indicated they are in no mood for additional taxes to pay for highway needs.

One of the factors that led to MoDOT's decision on the 15-year plan was the fact that a squabble broke out over the split in highway funding between rural and urban areas. After the 15-year plan was adopted, officials in the St. Louis area added up the dollars designated for projects all over the state and learned that 60 percent of the total was going to rural areas and only 40 percent to urban areas. Never mind that the St. Louis area is getting a third of the total state funding.

Now MoDOT is looking for a funding policy for the future. Various versions of a needs-based plan are being considered, including one that would also include full funding for unfinished projects that were to be covered by a 4-cent increase in the state fuel tax approved by voters in 1987.

Under this option, St. Louis stands to get the bulk of the funding for those unfinished projects. Clearly, the option is designed to placate St. Louis folks who want their projects built first -- and whatever is left over can be split among the rest of the state's highway needs.

But there's a flaw in this option. Most of the unfinished projects from the 1987 plan haven't been done because St. Louis officials have other projects higher priorities. St. Louis and Kansas City both operate under metropolitan planning organizations that have the power to take state highway funds allotted to them and decide where those funds should be spent. In fact, more money has been spent in St. Louis than if all the 1987 projects had been completed.

The most equitable plan for highways in Missouri is the one MoDOT has gravitated toward for as long as just about anyone can remember: Build the roads that are needed the most.

MoDOT doesn't need a major policy shift.

It needs the backbone to do what best benefits the whole state rather than caving in to the enormous club being wielded by St. Louis.