MODOT Tells County Commission Money for Roads Plummeting

Don Wichern, district engineer for the area for MODOT, said that money to keep up highways in Missouri was plummeting and that they were having to do more with less. He made his remarks during the regular Worth County Commission meeting Monday morning. As an example, he said that the DOT in the past had built up monument style structures and that some of the bridges that they had replaced had been built in the 1920's. But he said that they had found ways to put in three bridges for the price of one. In the 1970's, the DOT began putting salt on roads in winter, but that caused the bridges to wear out faster than it had before. For instance, Old 169 was turned over to the county before DOT began putting salt on the roads and that bridge is still in good shape.

Wichern said that they were aware that they were having a funding crisis since 2005. Since that time, Federal funding for construction has fallen from $1.2 billion to $600 million. Despite the loss of funding, Wichern said that they had some goals:

--Put 85% of major roads in good condition. Wichern said that the reason that people think that roads in the south part of the state are better is because they generally only use major roads to get there. It used to be that only 47% of roads were in good condition.

--Improve minor roads such as 169. This includes the upcoming resurfacing project. The district have a person in a minivan who drives all the roads in the district and evaluates them and that helps them decide where the money goes. This led to some surprising results; for instance, Wichern said that Gentry County had the worst lettered roads in the district. He said they have spent $8 to 9 million to improve lettered roads and that the situation is slowly but surely improving.

--Hold own on bridges. The goal of the DOT is to replace one bridge for every bridge that is deemed unsafe. The DOT will close any bridge which they deem to be unsafe. The region will do more bridges than any in the region.

--Provide good customer service. Wichern said that he was in the process of traveling all over his district to gather feedback from people.

Wichern said that the DOT has already closed 24 barns, including Sheridan's, and two offices and have not filled positions due to attrition. But the decline in gas tax revenues is shrinking to the point where they will lose even more federal funding because the state must put up $1 for every $4 that the federal government funds. He said that the DOT does not get any more money because of the high gas prices; in fact, they get less because people travel less and less when gas prices go up. The state gas tax is 17 cents per gallon, which does not go up. He said that the present system of financing the DOT worked for a long time, but that it was not working anymore. The year 1992 was the last time the DOT got any new state tax revenues. The year 1993 was the last time that they got any new federal revenues.

Wichern said that they had done all that they could with bandaid solutions and that now, they were in the process of making major cuts. This includes the closing of 111 barns across the state including 10 more in the region as well as the sale of equipment and buildings. Grant City is not included in this round of closures. Many middle level positions will also be eliminated. Consequently, the DOT is working to do a better job of using resources across the state. Highway Department barns are not limited by boundaries; the DOT can assign departments all over the state in order to provide help where the need is greatest. For instance, they sent crews to Jefferson City during the blizzard there and will be sending crews to Joplin to help with the cleanup with the tornado. He said that the consolidations worked out well as far as providing better service because a crew of 10 people can do a lot more than a crew of 5 in doing maintenance projects.

Despite all the cuts, Wichern said that there were some accomplishments as well. For instance, they have reduced fatalities to the lowest since 1949, when there was one fourth of the traffic. They have put much more guard cable and rumble stripes along roads and hope to put in more. He said that they are doing a much better job of accountability as they have to justify how they spend every dime to the legislature. Sam Graves led efforts to tighten accountability for the DOT during his time in the Missouri legislature. The DOT has put up emergency reference numbers on major roads so that it is easier for emergency crews to locate accidents along highways.

Regarding lettered roads, Wichern said that they were never engineered, which means that the base on them is very uneven. They rutted even worse than usual the last few years because of the winters. He said that the quality of lettered roads in the south of the state is better, but not that much.

Wichern said that everyone around the state thinks that they are getting shortchanged. For instance, he says that people in St. Louis and Kansas City districts complain about resources going to roads in rural areas despite the lower population. He said that the region ranks third worst for lettered roads and is in the middle for major roads.

Wichern said that turning roads over to counties was not an option, saying that they had learned their lesson from previous years. The DOT in the late 60's turned over maintenance of Old 169 over to the county; however, that road fell apart over the next few decades and the county says that they do not have the money or equipment to maintain such roads. However, Wichern said that if the funding situation did not change for the next 3-5 years, they would not be able to maintain the level of quality for the roads that they have been. He said that the legislature was unwilling to put a ballot initiative on, but that the funding situation had to change or there would be even less money to maintain roads.