Fixing MoDOT: What we learned about Missouri's "broken system"

Waiting for MoDOT by zaskem on FlickR

Recently MoBikeFed hosted a meeting with the Missouri Transportation Alliance. That group is working to address the current crisis that is looming over MoDOT.

MoDOT funding is set to drop more than 60% starting in 2010--leaving MoDOT so short of funds they will not even be able to maintain their current system.

The opportunity this MoDOT crisis presents is to move transportation in Missouri into the 21st Century and--rather than just building more, bigger, faster highways--look for the best, most efficient, most cost-effective, most community-friendly and most environmentally friendly ways to move all Missourians where they need to go.

MoBikeFed member Ryan Kegley attended the meeting and had this response:

Because I'd received the invite to the meeting from MOBikeFed, my attitude going in was one of complete bike/pedestrian emphasis. I imagined a massive bicyclist contingency there to raise our common voices to MODoT to stop ignoring the needs of non-motorists. Surprisingly, that's not what happened. And that the meeting didn't go down that way was, I think, entirely for the best.

What I found was an informative, lucid and constructive conversation about the massive struggles looming on the horizon for Missouri with regards to its transportation needs. I didn't expect to learn so much about where transportation in Missouri came from in the 50s, how we got to where we are now, and the dire situation the state will be in if something drastic isn't done. Missouri can no longer continue to approach transportation and transportation funding as it does currently. But, like Social Security at the Federal level, it's a broken system that can't get beyond its own politics to find a solution. I found this disconcerting, to say the least, and I think that because this reality made itself abundantly clear in the meeting, the meeting's very set-up made it difficult to accomplish anything (if anything was indeed supposed to be accomplished).

What I took away from the meeting was that, more than anything else, Missouri's citizens need a significant dose of education. It's clear that few residents understand what's going on and why, and without arming people with knowledge it's going to be impossible to move them into a new, more progressive direction. I think everyone in the room agreed that Missouri can't continue to maintain the status quo, but without education, it's impossible to bring the populace along. The example of prairie grass along the highway that was cited by the MoDOT representative (drivers complaining about uncut grass, not understanding why the grass was so tall, despite signs indicating it was native prairie grass) was a perfect indicator of what we face moving forward.

I, for one, left the meeting jazzed at the possibilities of taking a message to the people. If you look at the big picture, we're facing an amazingly complicated and difficult road ahead. But if you break it down into bite-size nuggets of information that people can quickly and easily digest, our challenge is not insurmountable. I would like to, in whatever capacity I can given my occupation as art director and designer, assist in this cause. I hope others left the meeting so inspired.

Three notes:

• You can read MoBikeFed's summary of the meeting and situation here.


• The St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation is currently working to schedule a "Fixing MoDOT" meeting in the St. Louis area--it will likely happen later in June 2009. Watch for an announcement soon.
  
• We encourage groups interested in bicycling, walking, transit, environmental, community, and other transportation-related matters to contact the Missouri Transportation Alliance and consider holding a meeting as well--they need to hear from people all around the state.


• In just two minutes you can leave a message for the Missouri Transportation Alliance encouraging them to include bicycling and walking in Missouri's new transportation plan.