ROAD FUNDING PLAN IS PRETTY MUCH BUNK

How to pay for good highways in Missouri? No one seems to know. No one seems to want to do the hard work required to develop credible figures. No one seems to be interested in putting together a list of top-priority projects and then looking for ways to fund those projects. No one appears to be using a lick of common sense as highway officials, legislators and special-interest groups talk, talk, talk with little to show for their efforts.

None of this unproductive activity, however, has stopped a self-anointed committee from making recommendations that can only be described as incredibly deficient. Some might even call the ideas goofy.

Ever since the Missouri Department of Transportation decided to dump the Legislature-approved 15-year highway plan that included a 6-cent increase in the state's fuel tax, there has been very little offered by what used to be one of the state's most respected agencies to bolster confidence.

Even though MoDOT repeatedly has said there isn't enough money to pay for the ambitious 15-year plan, it has never presented hard, cold facts to support its claim. As a result, all subsequent discussions about what to do have relied on assumptions and guesses.

Now a 16-member committee representing highway contractors and other transportation interests has recommended tax and fee increases to generate nearly $700 million a year for transportation projects. The plan was delivered this week to the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight.

As incredible as it sounds, here is how the committee arrived at its recommendations:

-- The committee focused on ways to raise funding for transportation needs. It discussed revenue options without any benefit of knowing what projects might be funded or how much those projects might cost.

-- The committee looked at a number of revenue-producing options. The standard set by the committee: Which of the options might pass muster with the Legislature or voters?

-- Based on that flimsy test, the committee formed its recommendations for transportation funding for the next decade.

What did the committee suggest? It suggested a half-cent increase in the state sales tax. It suggested another 5-cent increase in the state fuel tax. It suggested designating all revenue from motor-vehicle sales taxes for transportation. And it suggested increasing registration and license fees for all vehicles.

Then the committee added up the revenue these ideas would generate. It came to $693 million a year.

It would be up to MoDOT to decide which projects to do, according to committee members. But, the committee said, it's pretty sure that, even with another $700 million a year, the state still wouldn't be able to afford everything that was in the scrapped 15-year plan.

Does any of this make you feel good about Missouri's highway department or the caliber of individuals who say they are looking for solutions?

In the early part of this century, Missouri's highway department marshaled statewide support for a plan to bring the state's roads out of the mud. Most of today's farm-to-market roads and major highways are the result of that successful effort. For decades, the independent highway department commanded respect and credibility.

With the implosion of the 15-year plan, however, all of that trust is gone. There is precious little Missourians can grab hold of right now to make them want to spend more of their hard-earned money for highways.

Plans like the one delivered this week ought to be pitched into the nearest wastebasket. Someone -- the highway department, the Legislature's oversight committee, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, the governor -- ought to get busy and put together a plan that makes sense and starts to restore the confidence of voters and taxpayers.

The mess offered this week doesn't even come close.