MoDOT director addresses SBDC members

Pointing to the organic ties between transportation and economic development, the director of the Missouri Department of Transportation called for all stakeholders to work together during the Springfield Business Development Corp.’s 10th annual Economic Outlook Conference.

Director Dave Nichols said this morning that though the state's transportation system is currently operating well, MoDOT is working with a reduced annual construction budget of $700 million, down from an average of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion during 2004-10.

"Our transportation system in Missouri is good because of the hard work that we have all done in partnership together. It's taken a lot of effort to get to where we are," Nichols told SBDC members at University Plaza Convention Center.

Nichols said every $1 invested in transportation produces a $4 return on economic development, and every $1 billion invested generates 34,000 jobs.

Given those figures, transportation could help fuel economic development exponentially by 2020, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 Report Card for America's Infrastructure. Nichols referenced the study, which grades the U.S. infrastructure at a D+ with a needed investment of $3.6 trillion by 2020.

Missouri fares better, Nichols said, with a C rating on the report. The study notes Missouri currently has 3,528 structurally deficient bridges and a 3.1 percent rate in poor or mediocre quality roads.

"The transportation infrastructure - and our infrastructure in general - is an expectation, and we only get concerned about it when it doesn't work," he said. "If we don't continue to work together to find a source of funding in this very difficult time right now, our transportation system and our transportation services are not going to be up to par for what we want to be and to be able to compete with other states around the country."