State losing ground on road construction

State losing ground on road construction
Group estimates expansion to cost billions.

Published Thursday, June 8, 2006

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - The number of vehicles traveling on Missouri’s seven interstates is increasing faster than new construction and demanding expansions the state can’t yet afford, says a report released today by a not-for-profit transportation research organization.

TRIP, a Washington D.C.-based group backed by insurers, highway contractors and labor unions, said repairs and improvements to reduce congestion and sustain economic growth on the 1,181 interstate miles in Missouri would cost $10 billion over the next 10 years.

The report calls for expanding from four lanes to six Interstate 70, which connects St. Louis and Kansas City. It also urges extending Interstate 64 in St. Louis an additional 12 miles west to Highway 40.

Missouri Department of Transportation Director Pete Rahn told lawmakers earlier this year that I-70 and Interstate 44, between Joplin and St. Louis, need more lanes.

Rahn also urged lawmakers during his annual State of Transportation address to find ways to put more money into transportation.

The department is flush with cash thanks to bonds made possible by a voter-approved constitutional amendment in 2004 that redirected some existing state revenues to the agency. It is midway into a five-year plan that calls for spending an average of $1.4 billion a year on 866 projects.

TRIP’s report, released today at a news conference in St. Louis, used federal and state data to examine the congestion, quality and benefits of Missouri’s interstate routes.

The state’s 10 most congested roads all were in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas. The worst was a stretch of westbound I-70 between Noland Road and Interstate 35 South in Kansas City. The most congested roadway in St. Louis - and No. 2 overall - is eastbound Interstate 170 between Interstate 270 and Highway 180.

The report predicted congestion would only become worse because the construction of new lanes has not kept pace with the number of new cars on the road. From 1990 to 2004, the number of miles traveled increased 29 percent, while new lane space increased only 2 percent.