JEFFERSON CITY- Senator Bill Eigel, R- St. Charles, introduced Senate Bill 457, which would invest $2.7 billion dollars over the next 10 years to address the critical need to repair and replace crumbling infrastructure in the state, including at least a $2.2 billion investment in Interstate 70.
Senate Bill 457 will do all of this without a tax increase, a fee increase, or costly toll roads.
Additionally, SB 457 would take action to reduce the burden placed on the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), the state’s transportation authority, of having to manage the 7th largest transportation network in the country. This would be achieved by restoring local control of routes not eligible for federal aid. “MoDOT doesn’t do a bad job managing the maintenance of our roadways, we simply ask too much of them. We are going to restore local control of non-federally aided miles, which will ease the burden on MoDOT,” said Sen. Eigel.
The act provides that 10 percent of existing sales and use taxes be deposited in the State Road Fund and a newly created I-70 rebuild fund. “We don’t have a revenue problem in the state when it comes to transportation funding, we have a prioritization problem,“ Sen. Eigel said. The Sales and Use Tax transfer would expire after 10 years.
This act represents the most ambitious investment in the state’s transportation network so far during this General Assembly. Moreover the new investment will enable state officials to maximize leverage of federal matching highway dollars and other future federal investments in transportation infrastructure.
Senate Bill 457 is available for reading online at www.senate.mo.gov/legislation.