Missouri Governor Jay Nixon stopped by the recently closed Missouri River bridge on Highway 291 just outside of Kansas City in Sugar Creek, Missouri today. He used it as a setting to call on the legislature to pass a fuel tax hike for transportation.
The bridge was closed yesterday when a Department of Transportation inspection found a rusted hole through a support strut.
Nixon said the bridge is indicative of a larger transportation funding problem.
“This issue is extreme and it’s real and it’s right now," Nixon said. "I still support long term solutions, but if we can make the incremental solution here in the next 8 days, then it’ll send a clear signal to Missourians that we understand our responsibility and are going to work hard to get it met.”
Lawmakers in the Senate are mulling over a measure that would raise gas taxes by 1 and a half cents per gallon and diesel taxes by 3 and a half cents per gallon. If passed, it would help make up nearly half of the $160 million needed to earn matching federal transportation funds.
