MoDOT discusses future of Missouri roads

Missouri Department of Transportation Director Patrick McKenna met with the Columbia Chamber of Commerce Thursday morning to talk about the future of Missouri roads after the failure of Proposition D.

Proposition D was a ballot measure in the November election that would have increased Missouri’s fuel tax rate by 10 cents per gallon over four years to fund Missouri state law enforcement and provide funding for local governments road construction and maintenance.

McKenna said the biggest impact of the failure will be on the Rocheport Interstate 70 Bridge. MoDOT said the heavy repeated traffic on the bridge over the last 58 years is deteriorating the steel, so the bridge is reaching the end of its useful life.

MoDOT is planning another rehabilitation project, but McKenna said it will cause some delays.

“It will have significant traffic backups associated with it because we’ll have to close one lane in each direction for many months,” McKenna said. “There could be three hour delays to Columbia and that’s on a good day.”

MoDOT and the Columbia Chamber of Commerce said they will continue to work with state legislators and the federal government to find solutions to the funding problems.

“Its always one of our top priorities on our legislative agenda, our state legislative agenda, working with them and saying what are some solutions,” said Matt McCormick, president of the Chamber.