CHICAGO -Strapped for cash, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission is looking to private industry, entrepreneurs, and innovators to come up with ideas for how to upgrade a stretch of Interstate 70.
The commission said June 3 it wants the thoroughfare that connects St. Louis and Kansas City to serve as a laboratory for construction of the next generation of highways.
"Missouri has always been a hub for transportation technology and innovation - and our highways should be no exception," Gov. Jay Nixon said in a statement.
"As we continue to work to identify a solution to our transportation funding needs, I appreciate the Missouri Department of Transportation for taking a pro-active approach and embracing new technologies that will pave the way toward a brighter future," Nixon said.
"It's only appropriate that the re-birth of the nation's interstate system begin at its birthplace," commission board chairman Stephen Miller. The interstate was the first constructed after President Eisenhower signed the legislation authorizing the interstate highway system in 1956. "We're open to any and all ideas."
A team of Missouri Department of Transportation experts will solicit and evaluate ideas from the private sector. "Those ideas need to not only focus on innovations in traffic engineering, design and construction, but also innovative ways of funding transportation infrastructure," the statement said.
The commission recently approved a construction and funding plan that reflects the expectation of a drop in funding to $325 million in 2017 from $700 million this year. The commission oversees the transportation department and borrows on its behalf.
The plan calls for the commission to focus its resources on only about 8,000 miles of Missouri's 34,000-mile state highway system to keep the targeted roads in good condition. The remainder will receive limited routine maintenance. That leaves little money for projects like the rebuilding and expanding of Interstate 70.
Collections from Missouri's gasoline tax of 17 cents per gallon and transportation funding provided by the federal taxes of 18.4 cents on gasoline and 24.4 cents on diesel fuel are diminishing revenue streams. Missouri voters last year rejected a constitutional amendment raising the state sales tax to provide $5 billion for transportation needs over 10 years.
