MISSOURI IS WELL-POSITIONED FOR NATIONAL HIGHWAY PLAN

Missouri appears to be well ahead of other states in putting together highway and bridge plans for inclusion in a new National Highway System, which will bring about major highway and bridge improvements around the country into the next century. Missouri's strong and clearly defined position speaks well for the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department, which long has been using long-range highway programs for planning purposes.

The department operates under a 15-year planning program. This allows priorities for highway improvements to be set as it becomes obvious which projects are needed and when. That's similar to what the federal government will do under the National Highway System.

Unlike Missouri's plan, which establishes priorities, the National Highway System will not rank projects by priorities. That will be left up to the states, as it should be.

As a federal highway administrator put it, the National Highway System "will be the backbone of our national transportation network in the 21st century -- the key to enhanced mobility, economic development and competitiveness in the global marketplace."

Congress soon will begin hearings to establish the National Highway System, which likely will include many of the projects outlined in Missouri's 15-year plan. Under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, Congress was given several years to designate a system for improvements. With congressional approval, a final system could be approved by late spring or early summer.

The program will pave the way for numerous upgrades of federal highways with the federal government participating in funding. In fact, the proposed system calls for less than 2 percent of the program to involve new roads. And of 158,674 miles of roads projected for improvements, 75 percent will be in rural areas.

Locally, Highways 34, 72, 25, 63, 67, 60 and 412 are all suggested for inclusion in the federal system. Upgrading of all of those highways by widening and straightening or four-lane construction are among improvements listed in Missouri's current 15-year plan. All of the projects are needed and will benefit Southeast Missouri. We urge that they be included in the federal system.

The chief engineer of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department, Wayne Muri, recently went to bat for those projects and a new Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau, which also is included in the proposed system. Testifying before Congress, Muri stressed that the bridge is a top priority because of its age, damage from last year's flood and its vulnerability to earthquake damage. He pointed out that the last highway act didn't contain funding for construction of bridges like the one needed here. Congress should include funding for the Cape Girardeau bridge in the federal system.

Because so much of the work under the federal system will be done in rural areas, Missouri obviously was looking ahead when it established a plan to connect all towns of 5,000 people or more with four-lane highways. Improvements to the Southeast Missouri roads proposed in the plan certainly is within the proposed federal system's intent.

The state highway commission's philosophy was well put by Commissioner John Oliver of Cape Girardeau, who said the four-lane highways will offer ready access and provide citizens with good, safe roads and a reasonable, competitive edge in terms of economic development.

Missouri stands to gain significantly from the National Highway System because of the highway department's advance planning. By being ahead in the game, chances are good that many if not all of the Missouri projects proposed for the national system will be included, assuring federal funding of those projects, and improved roads for Missourians.