NEW STATE PLAN SET ON LOCAL DECISIONS FOR HIGHWAY NEEDS

Building highways has become a complicated and time-consuming process in Missouri, not to mention a burden on limited financial resources. Part of the reason highway projects take so long is the bureaucratic system. Decisions on which projects will become reality are made in Jefferson City, and decisions on which projects will get funding are also made in the state capital.

When the federal government's Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (usually called Ice-Tea because of its acronym, ISTEA) established a requirement for each state to develop a long-range transportation plan, Missouri officials went a step further. In addition to meeting the planning objectives, the state produced a set of decision-making guidelines that can be used in any of the Highway and Transportation Department's 10 districts. This means many projects that languished awaiting review and processing in Jefferson City could in the future be handled at the district level.

Overall, the time needed from inception to construction of most highway projects has doubled in recent years to nearly nine years. With the new guidelines, which were released earlier this month, the goal is to reduce that time frame back to something on the order of four and a half years.

Developing the guidelines was no hit-and-miss process. Some 1,500 Missourians were involved in more than 50 meetings around the state over a two-year period as information was collected that would be refined into the long-range plan.

Called the Show Me Transportation Plan, the guidelines avoid specifics that would make decision-making in the Bootheel or Northwest Missouri difficult because of the obvious difference in needs and objectives. But the plan has plenty of goals and policies that are intended to serve planning needs throughout the state, including attention to such things as safety, travelers' destinations, economic development and the quality of life.

If the new guidelines are successful in streamlining the way highway projects are handled, most Missourians will consider the planning effort a huge success.