JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — MoDOT won’t be building new roads or expanding existing roads until at least 2020, the beleaguered state agency announced last week.
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission approved its Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for fiscal years 2016-2020 last week, and the budget shortfall will leave the department with fewer projects in the coming years.
“I was extremely disappointed to see the STIP program that was approved last week had zero expansion, no planning, no engineering, no nothing, that MoDOT is only in maintenance mode,” Representative Glen Kolkmeyer said Thursday.
The newest STIP, an annual list of construction projects to be completed within the next five years, indicates that only 574 projects are scheduled to be completed in the next half-decade, a decrease of nearly 250 projects from last year’s STIP.
“As the construction budget gets smaller each year, projects in the STIP must reflect only the most essential transportation needs,” MoDOT interim director Roberta Broeker said in a release.
The STIP also highlighted that no construction of new roads nor expansions of existing ones will take place over that time period. Instead, the 574 approved projects will largely focus on maintenance.
Bob Brendel, the special assignments coordinator for MoDOT, said that the MHTC is not happy about pushing through a plan.
“The Commission is disappointed that they had to approve a STIP that concentrates only on maintaining our system and can’t provide additional projects that provide for economic activity, system-wide safety improvements and create jobs,” he said.
The immediate impact to the average Missourian will probably not be felt immediately. However, Brendel says that since 8,000 miles of the state’s primary routes will receive the most attention from MoDOT, the other 26,000 miles of smaller, supplementary routes, especially in more rural areas, will only receive routine maintenance over the next five years.
“Initially, you probably won’t see much difference, but over time the system will gradually deteriorate,” Brendel said.
Brendel also added the state could see more bridge closures in that time frame. In March, the MHTC announced that 591 bridges in the state were in serious or poor condition and in need of repair.
MoDOT’s lack of revenue has contributed greatly to the department’s inability to continue the pace of road construction, repair and maintenance around the state, and it could continue to make things worse according to Broeker.
“The ramifications of that shortfall will extend to every region of the state and the impact will be significant in terms of safety and economic growth,” Broeker said.
The dreary outlook from Broeker and the department comes as lawmakers continue to wrestle with a workable funding mechanism to manage Missouri’s massive road system. 63 percent of MoDOT’s revenue’s come from taxes on fuel, a revenue stream that has been steadily shrinking for years in the two decades since the last fuel tax increase. Voters rejected a sales tax increase measure in 2014 that would have sent a decade of funding to MoDOT and lawmakers earlier this year couldn’t reconcile differences on a gradual increase in the fuel tax.
MoDOT officials soon won’t be able to meet federal matching dollar minimum standards, as officials estimate that increased costs of building materials has halved the agency’s buying power in 20 years.
However, Kolkmeyer remains optimistic that eventually the waning quality of the state’s roadways will allow for real action in the legislature, noting that a penny-per-gallon tax on gas and diesel fuel would raise nearly $40 million for MoDOT. A ballot proposal during a state election could mean even more funds for the state.
“Once the roads start deteriorating, and we get the word out more, we can move some legislation next year,” Kolkmeyer said.
