Officials with the Missouri Department of Transportation say they know now what the people want. They just hope they have enough money to give it to them.
After hosting 17 listening sessions across the state this year, MoDOT released in late November a list of philosophical priorities outlined by stakeholders.
Becky Baltz, the Southwest District engineer covering the Springfield area for MoDOT, said statewide priorities were identified with the help of the district’s two listening sessions in March and meetings with individual county leaders throughout the 21-county district.
The problem for Baltz and others with the agency is that meeting those priorities could prove difficult. “There is a big gap between what Missourians are telling us they want and what funding is available for us to do transportation projects,” Baltz said.
MoDOT’s 2014 operating budget is $2.06 billion, its smallest since 2005 and 29 percent less than the budget of just four years ago. Through its sessions, officials asked people across the state to consider priorities based on two scenarios: assumed funding levels at $1.4 billion and a second scenario with $600 million in additional funding.
The long-term update comes on the heels of MoDOT’s concerted effort to downsize after the depletion of federal stimulus dollars. The agency’s Bolder Five-Year Direction set into motion in June 2011 has reduced MoDOT staff by 1,200, shrunk its fleet by 752 vehicles and closed 131 buildings, said Bob Brendel, MoDOT’s special assignments coordinator. The cuts, expected to wrap up next year, have resulted in $497 million in savings, Brendel said.
According to a draft of the plan, titled A Vision for Missouri’s Transportation Future, MoDOT identified four long-term goals: maintain the current transportation system and services; make safety a priority, regardless of the mode of transportation; invest in projects that spur economic development; and offer better choices, such as bike-friendly lanes.
In every district, according to the report, participants said maintenance of roads, bridges and overpasses was more important than expanding the state’s current system. Statewide, 37 percent said expanding transportation offerings was more important than maintaining the current system, while 63 percent said what’s in place works. Across the Show-Me State, 6,598 bridges are in fair or poor condition, while 9,290 miles of highways are in fair or poor condition, according to MoDOT.
In the Southwest District, keeping bridges and overpasses sound was the top priority among the 75 individuals who answered survey questions. Smooth roads were the second highest priority.
Investments are important, according to the long-range plan, because every $1 spent on transportation generates $4 in economic activity. In a separate MoDOT study released last month, it was estimated that the state’s 108 public-use airports generated $11 billion in economic activity last year. Also, the $24.2 million spent since 2007 on waterways and ports attracted $125.5 million in investments.
Local project ideas that came out of the listening sessions include improving Interstate 44 through widening, interchange ramps and bridges; constructing a second I-44 interchange in Marshfield; and reducing congestion at Campbell Avenue and Republic Road.
MoDOT Director Dave Nichols said via email the federally required long-range transportation is completed every five years.
“This plan is especially important because the way we have financed transportation in the past is not going to work in the future. We are largely dependent on fuel taxes, which account for about 70 percent of MoDOT’s budget,” Nichols said. “Those funds are constitutionally mandated to be spent only on roads and bridges. Fuel tax revenue has now become a diminishing revenue stream as cars have become more fuel efficient and as people have chosen to drive less.”
Progressing toward the four goals will require tough choices, he said.
“Studies have continually revealed that when businesses look to relocate or expand, two factors are most important: a quality workforce and access to critical transportation facilities,” Nichols said.
Big projects such as the recent 60-65 interchange improvements just aren’t on the horizon unless something changes.
“Heading into the future, we will be taking care of the system we have and looking for a few safety improvements, but that will mostly be the extent of the work we will do on the transportation system at current funding levels,” Baltz said.
She said a group called Missourians for Safe Transportation and New Jobs is working to secure more funding for transportation priorities. Organizers have submitted an initiative petition to the Missouri secretary of state proposing a 1-cent transportation sales tax.
At least one Springfield-area highway contractor doesn’t think that’s a likely option.
“The probability of passing a tax increase is nil and none,” said John View, vice president with Leo Journagan Construction Co. Inc.
Having wrapped up recent projects such as the $11.5 million widening of Route 13 between Branson West and Kimberling City and a $4.9 million bridge rehabilitation and resurfacing on Highway 65 between Ozark and Branson, View said a new dedicated funding source for projects is needed. He said MoDOT’s best bet is to create a specific project plan and ask voters to approve a tax increase for funding.
“If they lay out a good proposal, that’s the best shot of getting a tax through,” View said.
Locally, project requests are made through the Ozarks Transportation Organization, which serves the Springfield area as a metropolitan planning organization. Executive Director Sara Fields said OTO in 2008 identified five key corridor expansion priorities to keep up with population growth.
The five areas are improvements to Highway 14 between Ozark and Nixa; widening U.S. Highway 160 from James River Freeway to Nixa; widening Highway 65 from I-44 to Ozark; capacity and safety improvements on U.S. 160/James River Freeway from Kansas Expressway to State Highway 125; and widening U.S. 160 from I-44 to Jackson Street in Willard.
“We have identified regional priority corridors where we are asking for a funding focus from both the state and federal (government) on big picture items,” Fields said. “We approved these before 65 was six lanes, before the 60-65 interchange, before the first diverging diamond, so we’ve been chipping away at these projects and really seeing some progress.”
MoDOT also has identified a couple additional corridors it would like to see improved: U.S. 60 from Republic to Monett and expanding I-44 to six lanes from Strafford to Highway 360, west of Springfield.
The long-range plan is scheduled to be finalized this spring, Brendel said.
The Ozarks Transportation Organization and the Missouri Department of Transportation have identified seven widening and improvement projects for the Springfield area if funds become available.
