TRANSPORTATION PANEL IS ABOUT READY TO PICK KEY PROJECTS

Signals are starting to emanate from the Total Transportation Commission, a group appointed last year by Gov. Mel Carnahan to make recommendations about transportation needs throughout the state. The commission is expected to give its report to the governor sometime this month.

At one meeting, there was an attempt to get the commission on record as endorsing completion of the 15-year highway plan that was adopted after the General Assembly voted to increase the state fuel tax by 6 cents a gallon. The commission shied away from such a commitment, with more than on member expressing reservations.

The move to get the commitment was made by Estil Fretwell, a member of the commission who is a lobbyist for the Missouri Farm Bureau. No doubt, Fretwell's concern was as much for highway projects in rural areas of the state as it was for completion of the 15-year plan. Urban areas tend to soak up most of any funding effort, and rural areas need a strong advocate when it comes to highways.

The 15-year plan, most Missourians know by now, has been all but abandoned because of miscalculated cost estimates and a huge shortfall in funding due, at least in part, to cuts at the federal level. As a result, the Missouri Highway of Transportation has opted to review all projects and commit to them only a few years at a time.

There is some merit to the argument that 15 years is too a period to make firm commitments for highway needs. Those needs change constantly, and while projects in the first years of a long-range plan has some likelihood of being completed, those at the end of the 15 years would be iffy even if the money could be found.

More than that, the Total Transportation Commission is interested in more than highways. It is looking at airport, waterway and mass-transit needs in the state. This is likely to mean looking for ways to split the funding pot into more slices, and that could mean even fewer dollars for highways.

Unless, of course, the intent of the commission is to identify projects that require a huge infusion of newfound money -- say a tax increase or a multimillion-dollar statewide bond issue.

Taxpayers must watch carefully to see what the commission's recommendations will mean to their pocketbooks. And taxpayers in rural areas should be particularly interested in how much of the money comes back to rural projects.