MoDOT adds projects to 5 year plan for road maintenance - The Missouri Times

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

MoDOT has added 855 projects to the draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, covering five years, an addition the agency credits to an improved funding situation.

The projects funded would focus on maintaining the current transportation system. In the last two years the agency only added a few projects because of the potential for a severe drop in construction budget. But despite the more optimistic revised outlook, MoDOT is still warning that the future could be bleak without more spending on infrastructure.

Link: 

MoDOT adds projects to 5 year plan for road maintenance - The Missouri Times

MoBikeFed comment: Earlier this year, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, which oversees MoDOT, rescinded the "Missouri 325" plan that restricted regular maintenance and upkeep on the state highway system to 8000 miles of MODOT's 34,000 mile system.

http://www.modot.org/toughchoicesahead/documents/ToughChoicesAheadfactsh...

With the recent passage of of the Federal transportation funding renewal, the 5-year DRIVE Act, and adoption of a pretty scary 5-year plan to draw down MoDOT's entire cash reserve, the Commission found a way to make its budget work for the next five years.

The idea is that this plan will give Missouri five years to find a solution to the shortfall in transportation funding, while still maintaining the current system--rather than letting it fall into disrepair as was guaranteed to happen under the Missouri 325 system.

Our work has been to work to build and strengthen the coalitions across Missouri that will turn any new state transportation funding in the direction of flexible, multi-modal funding that can be used to meet the transportation needs of all Missourians--including the millions who regularly walk, bicycle, and use public transit.

http://mobikefed.org/2016/05/20-million-progress-missouri-general-assemb...