Funding transportation systems

Dan Hegeman

The Missouri Senate recently spent a significant amount of time discussing the challenges facing our system of highways and bridges and how to address some of those challenges. Missouri has around 34,000 miles of highways, a system nearly three or four times larger than comparable states.

Meanwhile, costs of construction and maintenance have continued to increase far beyond our funding sources and revenues.

The harsh reality is that Missouri has the seventh largest road system in the country, but lacks the necessary revenue to adequately maintain or improve the quality of that system across the state. As a result, our state’s transportation infrastructure continues to deteriorate and has become an impediment to our economic growth potential, our regional competitiveness, and our citizens’ safety.

In recent years, there have been several proposals on how to address these challenges, from toll roads, to handing lettered routes back to counties, which I strongly oppose. Yet, none of these proposals have gained much traction in the Legislature, nor from the public.

Efficiency alone cannot address these challenges and effective solutions have been hard to come by.

In fact, the Missouri Department of Transportation announced it will prepare to dip into its revenue reserves in the coming years in order to guarantee matching federal funding. But, those reserve funds are meant for emergencies and the use of those funds on an ongoing basis is not sustainable.

After the most recent proposal to implement a sales tax for roads failed in 2014, I had a number of constituents contact me to express support for revisiting the gas tax, which is how our current roads are funded and have been since 1924. The fuel tax hasn’t been adjusted since 1996, two decades ago. The gas tax may be a possible solution, but I have remained adamant that any proposed increase must go to a vote of the people.

Ultimately, the Senate passed and sent to the House Senate Bill 623, which, upon voter approval, would raise the gas tax by 5.9 cents per gallon beginning in 2017. It would bring the total tax to about 23 cents, well below the national average of 30 cents.

While this may not be the “perfect” fix, and could be rejected by the House, or voters, we must continue looking for solutions to resolve the challenges facing our system of highways and bridges in Missouri.