Legislature Creates Task Force to Study Missouri’s Transportation System
Missouri’s transportation system plays a vital role in the lives of our citizens. We depend on it every day to safely and reliably connect with our family, jobs and so much more. Historically, the Show-Me State has been a leader in transportation. In fact, the first interstate highway project in the United States to begin construction after the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was right here in Missouri.
Today, Missouri is home to the nation’s seventh largest state highway system, with nearly 34,000 miles of highways and 10,400 bridges. These numbers don’t include the city and county system of roads and bridges, which is comprised of an additional 97,000 miles of county roads and city streets and 14,000 bridges.
Unfortunately, our transportation infrastructure is aging. And despite having a system that’s roughly three to four times larger than comparable states, we rank 47th in the nation in revenue spent per mile. Without the necessary revenue to adequately maintain and improve the quality of our roads and bridges, our transportation infrastructure has continued to deteriorate — so much so that it’s become a liability in terms of our economic growth potential, regional competitiveness and our citizens’ safety.
To help aide in this process, state lawmakers this session passed legislation to create the 21st Century Missouri Transportation System Task Force. The purpose of the Task Force shall be to evaluate the condition of our state transportation system, current transportation funding and whether current funding is sufficient to maintain our system in its current state and ensure it’ll continue to serve the needs of Missouri citizens as we move forward in the 21st Century. The Task Force shall provide a report of its findings to the General Assembly by Jan. 1, 2018.
As always, please feel free to call, email, or write with your ideas or concerns. My Capitol office number is (573) 751-1415, my email is dan.hegeman@senate.mo.gov and my mailing address is Room 332, State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101.
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