MODOT: WHERE'S THE PLAN FOR EXTRA SPENDING?

The new director of the Missouri Department of Transportation hasn't wasted any words in telling anyone who will listen that the department needs more money.

The director, Henry Hungerbeeler, told a crowd at the annual Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce transportation dinner earlier this month that much of the department's present and future budgets will have to go toward maintenance of the road and bridge system instead of for new construction. Hungerbeeler went before the Missouri General Assembly's Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight on Tuesday and pleaded for more funding. He told the panel it is critical for the General Assembly to "identify and establish new revenue streams" for department projects.

He based his plea partially on the fact that approximately half of the other states spend twice the money per mile of roadway as does Missouri. Nevertheless, MoDOT has seen its budgets increase every year, from $1.3 billion in fiscal year 1999 to more than $1.5 billion this fiscal year, and a projection of nearly $1.6 billion in fiscal year 2001. Through fiscal year 2003 the department will spend $240 million annually on preservation of the system. As maintenance costs grow, there is less money for construction of new roads and bridges. Hungerbeeler said as a result there is a backlog of new projects that can't be done. (By the way, while in Cape Girardeau, Hungerbeeler blamed Missouri voters for the highway department's financial woes. They passed spending plans the state couldn't afford. And whose idea was that in the first place?)One suggestion Hungerbeeler gave the committee is toll roads and bridges. He didn't suggest whether toll roads and bridges should be built and maintained by the state or separate entities such as is done in Kansas and Oklahoma. Neither did he suggest the possibility of the Legislature authorizing the sale of bonds to finance new highway construction, a method that has been suggested but one that no one seems to want to address.

The state is still reeling from the collapse of the 15-year highway construction plan. It was to have funded highway construction needs well past the turn of the century. If the department really does need more money, it needs a plan voters can understand.