Missouri has the seventh largest state highway system in the United States, and a new Missouri Department of Transportation report says safety, reliability and maintenance of infrastructure are top priorities for the next 25 years. But current funding could present challenges to meeting those goals.
MoDOT’s Long Range Transportation Plan, released this month, sets the vision and direction for transportation in Missouri for the next 25 years, said MoDOT’s Central District Engineer Machelle Watkins.
Last year, MoDOT’s budget included more than $3 billion for roads and bridge improvements and $155 million for multimodal projects. The report notes there is $1.3 billion dollars of “high priority unfunded needs.”
“Missouri faces growing shortfalls that challenge MoDOT’s ability to maintain infrastructure and meet future needs,” the report states.
MoDOT data shows there is a funding gap of $1.2 billion for roads and bridges last year and $100 million for multimodal transportation needs.
The state’s transportation system received a boost from the gradually increasing gas tax that began in 2021.
That, plus an influx of federal money from the Biden-era Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and state dollars, enabled the agency to take on huge projects such as the expansion of Interstate 70 and the redesign of the U.S. 63/I-70 interchange in Columbia. Watkins called it a “historic moment” for MoDOT.
“We've had some significant investments in recent years in transportation from a fairly unusual location, and that's from (the state’s) general revenue (budget),” she said.
But even though transportation funding has been included in state budgets during both the Parson and Kehoe administrations, the recently published transportation plan states current revenue sources are not keeping pace with growing needs.
“Missouri has made historic investments in its transportation system, but current resources require MoDOT to focus on preserving existing roads and bridges,” the report states. “Even with nearly all funding directed to asset management, certain areas may not see improvements beyond basic upkeep.”
According to MoDOT, 80.8 million miles are driven and 1.7 million tons of freight are hauled on Missouri roads each day, and highway conditions are slowly declining.
MoDOT’s Central District Assistant Engineer Randy Aulbur said the quality of the roads are directly related to the amount of investment.
“Currently the investment being made into road conditions has lifted us up,” Aulbur said. “But the reality is, if you don't maintain that investment, it just doesn't take long to start heading back in a negative direction.”
The state updates its long-term transportation plan approximately every five years. The goals are used to allocate available funds to specific infrastructure projects across the state through the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.
“The unfortunate reality is that transportation revenues aren't growing at the same pace as inflation,” Watkins said.
She added that budget challenges are likely to compound due to the changing nature of cars.
“Hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles, while they're great for their impact to the environment … that's a great thing. They don't generate the same kind of revenues for transportation in the form of the traditional gas tax that other types of vehicles do,” Watkins said. “So over time as traffic continues to grow and the impact to our system continues to grow, the revenues do not.”
