ALERT: Attend statewide meetings May-Aug 2012 upcoming in Springfield, Cape Girardeau, Hannibal, Columbia, Kansas City: MoDOT Funding Crisis is Bike/Ped Opportunity, Blue Ribbon Committee to tour Missouri asking for citizen input

The Missouri Blue Ribbon Committee on Transportation is touring Missouri over the next few months.  Their objective is to tackle the current very serious crisis in transportation funding in Missouri and set the direction for a new funding source in Missouri.

Blue Ribbon Committee Meeting in St. Louis

This is a HUGE opportunity for bicycling and walking--if bike/ped is included in this new funding source, it will change everything for the better.

If bike/ped is omitted, it will be a disaster.

Please plan to attend your local Blue Ribbon Committee meeting.  If you represent an organization, make sure the organization is officially represented.

Blue Ribbon Committee meeting schedule:

• Everyone/every organization is allowed five minutes to speak (they use a timer).
• They will wait and allow time for everyone to speak who wishes to.
• The first session was scheduled 1pm-3pm and actually ran 1pm-4:30pm--so plan accordingly!  You can leave after you speak if necessary.
• You can bring handouts to distribute to the committee, about 20-25 copies for committee members are needed (not required, but could be helpful).
• You can use a powerpoint presentation (best to contact MoDOT area staff ahead of time about this).
• If you contact your local MoDOT district office, you can be placed on the speaking schedule ahead of time.  The pre-scheduled people will go first and those who sign up to speak at the door will go, in order, afterwards.  You might have to call around some to figure out the right contact person.
• Even if you just speak for 30 seconds to say, "I believe that any future funding for transportation in Missouri must include a fair share for biking and walking" that is VERY helpful!
• The committee is very interested in groups and individuals who are willing to step up and advocate for the funding Missouri needs--so if you or your group can do that, please let the committee members know.  If your group can support the funding proposal only if it includes particular elements (bicycling, walking, transit, land use planning, greenhouse gas reduction, use of native plants on roadsides, more support for local concrete companies, whatever it is you support!) then say so.  Keep in mind no one is advocating for a funding 'increase'--merely to put funding levels back to where they were in the 1990s--they have been eroded by inflation and increased vehicle mileage since then.
• If you cannot attend at meeting in person, you can send correspondence to Joe Engler in Speaker Tilley's office, who will distribute the information to Committee members.  Mailing address: Joe Engler, Office of Speaker Steven Tilley, Missouri House of Representatives, Capitol Building, Room 308, Jefferson City, MO 65101. Email: Joe.Engler [at] House.mo.gov.

Background on the funding crisis and the opportunity

For the past few years we have been talking about the crisis in Missouri's transportation funding--each year the state's fuel tax (not indexed to inflation), which has not been raised since the 1990s, has an ever-lower amount of buying power.  This has put MoDOT--and city/county transportation departments, which also get a share of state fuel taxes--into a crisis.  Even to maintain MoDOT's current system will require some kind of new revenue and pretty much everyone who has looked into the problem agrees the Missouri needs a new transportation funding source.

• Bicycling and walking make up about 7.5% of trips in Missouri--lower than the national average of 12% of trips in large part because of our poor bicycling and walking facilities.
• Bicyclists and pedestrians have represented between 8% and 10% of traffic fatalities in Missouri each year 2000-2011.
   
• Bicyclists and pedestrians represented 14.2% of traffic injuries in Missouri.
   
• 8.3% of Missouri households own no automobile; 29% of the population doesn't have a driver's license.  We need to meet the transportation needs of all Missouri citizens.
   
• Direct medical costs of obesity in Missouri are $1.9 billion annually, $8.2 billion annually by 2018. Investing a relatively small amount in bicycling and walking facilities is one of the most effective ways to address obesity and save some of those billions.
   
• Bicycling and walking--and particularly efforts like Safe Routes to School--are strongly supported by citizens and will help any transportation funding mechanism garner the votes it needs to pass.
   
• The new funding source will likely go beyond fuel taxes.   Every transportation funding source must provide for the welfare and needs of all, but the proposal is almost certain to include general taxes (sales tax, income tax, property tax).  And that makes it even more clear: This proposal must provide good, safe, complete, connected transportation for all citizens whatever their choice of transportation, not just when we are in a car.

We are asking that any new transportation funding help build healthy, livable communities and help connect Missourians to our communities and to our beautiful state.  We are asking for:

• Livable Streets: Statements and language within the legislation and/or in existing state transportation policy that will govern the use of the funding, that
  • Indicate that bicycling and walking are an important, integral part of the state's transportation system, 
  • Emphasize that transportation dollars are to help connect us with our communities, workplaces, and schools and that transportation funding should allow all Missourians true freedom in our transportation choices,
  • Guarantee that the needs of bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, the young, the elderly, people with disabilities, and all other users of the transportation system will be fully considered and will be provided for as appropriate in all projects funded through the new funding.
     
• Dedicated, guaranteed funding minimums for bicycling and walking from the any new funding source, in proportion to the amount of bicycle and pedestrian trips and traffic injuries/fatalities.
  
  
  

  A Complete Street
• Provisions allowing and encouraging the use of general transportation funding, beyond any special set-aside funds, for bicycle and pedestrian portions of projects where needed and appropriate.  For example, funding for a road or highway would have funding for needed bicycle and pedestrian facilities on or along that road or highway included within general project funding.  A rail project would include funding for needed bike/ped crossings as part of general project funding.  (Currently MoDOT is reluctant to use State Road Fund dollars for bicycle and pedestrian projects, even if part of highway or road projects, because of limiting language in the State Road Fund legislation.  We want to ensure that any new language lacks such restrictions and allows flexibility to build our transportation system and spend all transportation dollars as needed to meet the needs of all citizens.)
   
• Accountability and responsiveness to real citizen needs: MoDOT shouldn't be a bureacracy disconnected from the citizens it serves.  Real connection to the communities it serves, and real outreach to all constituent groups--but particularly those who may need to walk, bicycle, or use transit for transportation, people with disabilities, people from all income and social levels, is vitally important if MoDOT is to meet the community's and the state's needs. Coordination with cities, counties, and planning organizations to plan land use and coordinate transportation needs should be done proactively--rather than in the current reactive mode. This kind of leadership and accountability can and should be built into any new funding source. 
   
• Growth and wise land use. Provisions to encourage new developments and growing areas to communicate and coordinate with MoDOT, and to provide funding for the transportation needs in these growing areas, so that their changing transportation needs can be planned for and funded.

Related: Citizens for Modern Transit has created a page with talking about about why transit is important to Missouri's economy.

About the Blue Ribbon Committee

House Speaker Steven Tilley, R-Perryville is creating a citizens panel to address existing and future concerns on Missouri transportation issues.  Working alongside the Missouri Department of Transportation, Tilley’s Blue Ribbon Committee will meet at several locations throughout the state to discuss local issues and funding ideas.  At each meeting the committee will observe a presentation on local projects from MoDOT officials.  The meetings will give concerned citizens a chance to give their input on transportation projects and funding ideas.

Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley

 

“With large transportation projects being proposed, I want to make sure all of Missouri’s transportation needs are considered and that we take a close look at how they are funded,” said Speaker Tilley “The Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee on Missouri’s Transportation Needs is a great way to check the pulse of the state by providing an opportunity for Missouri’s citizens to voice their opinions.”

 

The committee will be co-chaired by former House Speaker Rod Jetton and former Senate President Pro Temr Bill McKenna. Other members include: Ben Jones, Blake Hurst, Brian Meisel, Dan Mehan, Duane Michie, Ed Soignie, Estil Fretwell, Jim Anderson, Joe Delong, John Nations, Len Toenjes, Mark Stidham  Neal St. Onge, Randy Verkamp, Ric Neubert, Scott Smith, Tom Crawford, Tom Dunne, and Tony Thompson.

 

“The Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee serves as a microcosm of Missouri citizens, representing numerous interest groups throughout Missouri,” said Tilley.