April 15, 2011

When you think of transportation, you might typically think of roads and bridges. But transportation is much more than that. Transportation is our connection to safety, work, business and family.

“Transportation is personal and affects each and every one of us every day,” Missouri Department of Transportation Director Kevin Keith said. “If we don’t invest in transportation, we risk losing lives, jobs, mobility and our quality of life.”

With funding for transportation in Missouri on a steep decline, MoDOT is working to remind Missourians about the importance of transportation and to warn them that the connections they enjoy because of the state’s vital transportation system and industry are in jeopardy.

For the last six years, MoDOT’s construction program has averaged $1.2 billion a year. For the next six years, it plummets to about $600 million a year.

MoDOT is doing what most businesses and families have had to do throughout the last few years – tightening its belt. The department is getting smaller, cutting costs and reducing services, while directing all available resources to taking care of existing roads and bridges.

But without additional funding, the department won’t be able to tackle the major road and bridge projects needed to keep motorists safe, support jobs, provide more transportation options and attract businesses and tourists to the state.

“We’ll wake up one day and say, ‘What happened?'” Keith said. “We will have lost ground. Our roads will have deteriorated, traffic fatalities will be on the rise again and jobs will be on the decline.”

Keith acknowledges that the current economic climate doesn’t make it easy to sell the case for more funding for transportation. But, it’s important to plant the seed now so Missourians will be informed and ready to act if the economy gets better and they are presented with the right funding solution.

In the meantime, MoDOT will support the efforts of the Missouri Transportation Alliance, a grassroots group working to identify ways to increase funding for transportation.

For more information, visit www.missouritransportation.org and www.modot.org/itspersonal.

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