Task Force Looking for Ways to Fix and Pay for Roads & Bridges
Date Posted: June 26, 2017
Posted In: Projects,
From St. Louis Public Radio: Crumbling roads and old bridges have long been something lawmakers say they should work on.
Now, a task force created to study Missouri’s transportation system will begin holding public meetings this week.
The task force’s mission is to come up with ideas to repair the state’s network of roads and bridges and figure out how to pay for it. It won’t be easy, as the Republican majority in the legislature has balked at any solution that includes allowing toll roads or raising the state’s 17.3 cents per gallon fuel tax, one of the lowest in the nation.
The task force is chaired by Rep. Kevin Corlew, R-Kansas City. He cautions against expecting any speedy solutions.
“I think that it’s important that we go into this with open eyes and all options on the table, and be able to have the task force do its work and (to) let them do so,” he said.
Corlew sponsored a bill during the regular session that would have allowed for turning Interstate 70 into a toll road across Missouri,. That proposal went nowhere. This time, he said, he won’t push any specific item while chairing the task force.
“My role is not to come in on Day One and say, ‘We’re going to do this option and no other,'” he said. “The reason we have a task force is because we haven’t been able to find a consensus.”
Senator Bill Eigel of Weldon Springs is also on the task force, and is one of several Republicans who strongly opposes raising the fuel tax or creating toll roads. He said during the latest Politically Speaking podcast that there’s more than enough existing revenue for the state’s transportation needs.