Tour of Missouri

National Park Service offers help with trail planning

Kim Schafer of the National Park Service sent the following announcement--which may be of high interest to communities and organizations working to plan or build trails:

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St. Louis regional bike plan--final public comment period May 10-19, 2011

Great Rivers Greenway sent the following announcement about four upcoming open houses--the final opportunity for public comment on the ambitous, proposed St. Louis Regional Bike Plan.

Great Rivers Greenway is providing area residents with one last chance to weigh in on the large-scale, long-range regional bicycle plan that is being developed to enhance on-road connectivity throughout the St. Louis region over the next two decades. During the month of May, Great Rivers Greenway will hold four public open house events so that residents can learn more about existing routes in their communities, view maps, comment on the proposed network of regional on-road routes, review what it will take to implement the system and learn about the performance measures needed to ensure successful expansion of an interconnected on-road system of bicycle routes in the region. The plan will encompass St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County with over 100 municipalities involved in the planning effort.

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MoDOT budget to be slashed as transportation funding runs out, major restructuring plan announced

Today MoDOT announced a plan to undertake a major organizational shake-up and reduction in personnel and budget as the result of funding reductions.

MoDOT leadership has been warning for years that MoDOT funding was set to "go off a cliff" starting in about 2009. The day of reckoning was put off for a while by federal stimulus funds, but now that those have run out, the agency is facing major budget cuts.

The core reason for the cuts is that federal and state fuel taxes--the major sources of funding for MoDOT--were set in the early to mid 1990s and have not been increased since then. That means that inflation reduces their purchasing power by about 3% annually--and taxpayers enjoy an annual 3% tax cut in their fuel taxes.

But after nearly two decades of these automatic annual tax cuts, the purchasing power of MoDOT's funding is greatly reduced--a dollar today only buys 60% of what it did in 1991, for example.

So when you look at MoDOT's budget today, which is about half of what it needs to be to maintain Missouri's roads in decent shape--that's why.  It's not some nefarious bureaucratic scheme or that the money has been wasted somewhere.  It's just the natural result of inflation over two decades.

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Complete Streets: Missouri policies named as among top in the nation

The National Complete Streets Coalition has released a major new analysis of Complete Streets policies across the U.S.--and policies from Missouri are among the top ranking of hundreds of policies evaluated.

Two Missouri Complete Streets policies--from Crystal City and Herculaneum--were listed among the top fifteen policies in the country.  Missouri was one of only two states with two policies listed among the top fifteen.


A rural Complete Street

Complete Streets policies are based on the idea that our streets and our cities need to work for everyone--people who drive, but also those who walk, bicycle, and use transit, the old and the young, the able bodied and those with disabilities.

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April 16th: Planting a tree for Susie Stephens, bicycle advocate killed in St Louis

Since Susie Stephens, a bicycle and pedestrian advocate who helped found organizations like the Alliance for Biking and Walking, was killed by a tour bus in St Louis in 2002, bicycle and pedestrian groups have wanted to do something appropriate to honor her memory. 

Susie's mother, Nancy MacKerrow, has spearheaded an effort to plant trees in honor of Susie in every part of the world--a Susie Forest.

At the Pro Walk Pro Bike Conference in Chattanooga last September, Nancy connected with St. Louis area advocates and this special ceremony April 16th is the result:

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Registration Opens for Walk to School Day 2011

Is your school, community, or neighorhood interested in doing an Walk to School Day event during October 2011? 

Get full credit and recognition for your event--as well as find great resources to help you organize your event, at walktoschool.org:

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More bicycle & trails candidates win their elections

Previously we covered two candidates, Scott Ogilvie of St. Louis and Fred Schmidt of Columbia, who made bicycle, pedestrian, or trails issues part of their campaigns and recently won elections.

We've recently found out about two more candidates:

Don Butterfield, Warrensburg City Council
In Warrensburg, Don Butterfield made the area's trail plan a big part of his platform.  During the campaign, Butterfield said:

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MoDOT funding set to drop off precipitously

As MoDOT and state officials have been saying for years, MoDOT funding is set to drop off precipitously.

This started to happen as Amendment 3 funding for MoDOT ran out in 2009-2010--the same time frame the problems were predicted with the federal government's Highway Trust Fund.

(MoDOT gets roughly half its funding from in-state sources like the state gas tax and the other half from the federal government--the federal Highway Trust Fund.)

Because of federal stimulus funding (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA), MoDOT has received extra federal funding over the last couple of years.  And Congress decided to supplement the federal Highway Trust Fund shortfalls with large infusions of money from the general fund--putting off the federal financial crisis for another year or two.

But in the next few years, this funding crisis at both the state and federal levels looks like it really is going to come home. KHQA News has some of the details:

MoDOT has to pay one dollar for every four dollars that comes from the federal government.

It has come up with a five year plan to be able to hold their own, but it won't fix the transportation money issue.

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Trailnet encouraging kids to walk to school in honor of Earth Day

Trailnet is working to encourage kids to walk to school for Earth Day:

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Tour of Utah, Quiznos Pro Challenge (Colorado) replace Tour of Missouri

The reconstituted and upgraded Tour of Utah and the new Quiznos Pro Challenge are set to replace the Tour of Missouri in 2011.

The Tour of Utah, set for August 9-14, 2011, has upgraded its UCI rating and is now billed as one of the top three pro stage races in the U.S.--the exact position previously held by the Tour of Missouri.

The Quiznos Pro Challenge, with a course through Colorado's Rocky Mountains, is set for August 22-28, 2011, the exact calendar spot previously held by the Tour of Missouri.

When the Tour of Missouri was under discussion in 2010, Missouri's top tourism leaders repeatedly claim that no other state was interested in taking on a pro bicycle tour like the Tour of Missouri.

I guess they were wrong . . . twice over.

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