MoDOT dips into cash reserves to match federal money

With a bleak outlook in the state’s House of Representatives for passing a gas tax hike this year, the Missouri Department of Transportation will turn to its cash reserves in order to match and keep federal funding.
 
MoDOT must match $1 of state funds for every $4 in federal funding it needs to complete maintenance and construction projects.
 
The state agency started the fiscal year with $831 million in reserves, but that number will drop to $214 million by 2022 based on current spending, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
 
Other plans lawmakers are considering to stem the use of reserve dollars include a cost-sharing relationship between MoDOT and local communities for transportation projects, and funding road and bridge work through money saved from cuts to state welfare programs.
 
Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.