MoDOT sets rules for new "Missouri Moves" cost share program; 1/3 of $20 million budget set aside for bike/ped & multimodal | MissouriNET

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:

The Department of Transportation will soon consider applications for projects it would split the cost of with local governments.
MODOT Director Patrick McKenna

MODOT Director Patrick McKenna

The legislature and governor agreed to put $20-million in the state budget for the year that begins July 1 for MODOT to re-launch a cost-share program that was suspended two years ago. Under its new name, the Missouri Moves program will use that money to partner with local entities on transportation infrastructure projects.

Two-thirds of the 20-million will go to road and bridge work, with the rest to infrastructure supporting things like pedestrian and bicycle transportation.

The Highways and Transportation Commission at its meeting this week approved how that program will work, according to MODOT Director Patrick McKenna.

“[The commission] had directed the Department to look at a way to implement this in a way that would be objective and as fair as possible, and have some geographic spread to it as well,” McKenna told Missourinet.

MODOT outlined for the commission its criteria for how it will evaluate and rank projects submitted to it by local entities.

MoBikeFed comment: For over a decade we have been working to build allies and statewide support for multi-modal funding for MoDOT.

Currently, by the Missouri Constitution, MoDOT's portion of state fuel tax dollars are dedicated for state roads and bridges only.

This year, the legislature funded the Missouri Moves Cost Share program which is designed to allow MoDOT to help with local projects. The legislative wording that created the new funding--for the first time ever--was specifically written to allow the funding to be used for roads, highways, bridges--and also bike, ped, transit, and other multi-modal transportation projects.

This is a major and very significant victory for transit, bicycling, and walking in Missouri because it is the first time the state has allocated funding in this way.

We are very pleased now that MoDOT has chosen to allocate a full 1/3 of the funding for multimodal and bike/ped projects.

Now we need Missouri cities, counties, and other agencies to step up with excellent projects for this new funding source.

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