Missouri Still Searching for Transportation Funding Answers

"The new director of the Missouri Department of Transportation continued his call to boost state transportation spending on Tuesday," reports Jack Suntrup in detailing the agenda of Missouri Transportation Director Patrick McKenna.

Suntrup quotes McKenna directly to describe the pressing funding needs of the state's transportation infrastructure:

'We'll be facing a virtual tidal wave of replacement needs as we go forward,' McKenna said. 'So getting further behind, or just treading water, is simply not good enough.'

The argument made by McKenna is the next chapter in a narrative that includes a failed attempt to raise revenue at the ballot box, when voters rejected a state sales tax in 2014. But, Suntrup notes, "[state] senators this year have so far moved fast on a bill that would raise the state's gas tax 1.5 cents for most motorists and 3.5 cents for diesel users."

Planetizen Correspondent Irvin Dawid noted the state's unintentional "fix-it-first" policy for transportation funding in July 2015, when MoDOT announced a five-year plan that lacked the funding to build new roads.