Highway funding should remain high priority

It is not surprising that the Missouri Department of Transportation has decided to cancel right-of-way purchases and design work for some 300 projects planned beyond 2007. With the failure of Proposition B in August, MoDOT is adjusting to the fact that there won't be money to build those projects, unless new revenue sources are secured.

While the cuts are prudent, there may be some concern that Missouri's voters will draw the conclusion that MoDOT has thrown up its hands. Instead, state highway officials would do well to consider carefully the suggestions elsewhere on this page from John L. Oliver Jr., a Cape Girardeau lawyer who is intimately familiar with MoDOT, thanks to his years as a state highway commissioner.

In short, Oliver proposes renewed credibility, removing politics from highway decisions and ending bureaucratic staffing.

Just because MoDOT has found a way to reallocate its funds for now doesn't mean there still isn't a need for putting more of Missouri's dollars into highways.