By Collin Reischman
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — It is not common for government agencies to receive positive feedback from the citizenry in spades. The typical Missourian need look no farther than the recent Department of Revenue document scanning scandal to see that sometimes state agencies are not very popular.
That is why former Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Bill McKenna said a pollster was shocked after seeing some recent data about the Missouri Department of Transportation. McKenna retired after 16 years in the state legislature and currently works as a spokesperson for the Missouri Transportation Alliance. He said the organization was polling Missouri citizens about their satisfaction and “trust” in MoDOT over the last few years.
“The pollster showed us the results but he told us he wanted to do it again, that he wanted to ask the question a different way,” McKenna said. “He wanted to ask a different question because he didn’t think a state agency could possibly score so high. He insisted on doing it again. And he came back with the exact same number.”
The Missouri Transportation Alliance, which was formed in 2009, focuses on “a smart, long-term investment,” in transportation throughout the state. The group has labor unions, business owners and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, as well as chambers in Kansas City, Saint Louis, and Cape Girardeau as members, among others.
McKenna told The Missouri Times the Alliance spent “countless hours” in meetings all across the state to hear the needs of the people with regard to their roads and bridges. After seeing the level of need versus MoDOT’s budget, McKenna said it became apparent that the department needed more money.
McKenna said MoDOT earned the respect of the people of Missouri by making drastic changes over the last few years.
“They’ve cut their budget by almost 20 percent while, at the same time, reducing the number of accidents and making our roads safer,” McKenna said. “But if you want to be serious about improving the state, we need a real investment in transportation.”
McKenna and the Alliance will strongly support the legislation that moved through the Senate that would raise more than $7 billion for MoDOT over the next ten years through a sales and use tax increase. According to McKenna, MoDOT and the state need the money badly.
“Cement and blacktop are mixed and poured locally, rock is taken from the quarry here in the state and driven by local truck drivers,” McKenna said. “We can not only create thousands of jobs by improving our roads, but then the roads are safer, which saves lives and spurs economic development.”
Missouri was once in the top 10 percent in the nation in its road and transportation quality, McKenna said. Figures from 2012, once finalized, are expected to show that Missouri is now right in the middle.
“If you can look at a business and say ‘we’ve got great transportation,’ that makes it more likely that they will build here,” McKenna said. “Plain and simple.”
To contact Collin Reischman, email collin@themissouritimes.com or via Twitter at @MOTimes_Collin.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.