Infrastructure Report

Where the rubber meets the road  

Federal stimulus could lead to better farm-to-market roads and bridges
Story By Nancy Jorgensen

If anyone knows about the condition of rural roads and bridges, it’s Bill Dunn, director of transportation for MFA Inc. MFA operates more than 1,000 trucks along the region’s diverse range of prairie straightaways, steep river hills and sharp Ozark curves.

While roads have improved in recent years, Dunn hopes that new federal stimulus funds will bring further rural infrastructure improvements to speed up traffic and improve safety.

“MFA drivers move grain and fertilizer down a lot of rural roads,” Dunn reported. “Our hilly terrain and volatile weather mean heavy wear and tear. Also, as crop yields improve and farm size grows, we’re seeing our farmer-members use larger equipment such as semi trucks, and huge tractors and combines.”

Dunn doesn’t blame the Missouri Department of Transportation for road conditions. He knows that budgets are tight. That’s why he was pleased when the federal economic stimulus program recently bumped up MoDOT’s budget by two-thirds. State funding for 2009 was about $1 billion before the stimulus added another $637 million.

Kevin Keith, chief engineer for MoDOT, reported that Missouri has 33,000 miles of roads, and most of them are rural. He agrees that the state’s biggest problem is with minor roads. “Our farm-to-market roads are not in good condition, and they’re getting worse,” he reported. “These roads were never built for today’s big semis and farm equipment.”

Missouri’s rural roads carry just 20 percent of all vehicle traffic. Some $62 million of the stimulus will go toward minor roads.

The big picture

When President Obama announced his stimulus package, Keith and other Missouri highway officials were ready. Missouri was the first state in the nation to award and begin construction on stimulus transportation projects.

“We started working on projects in November,” Keith reported. “We thought the chances were high that there would be a stimulus.”

Why was Missouri able to step in so quickly? “There’s no political appointee at the top,” Keith said. “Our projects are picked by need, not by politics. We stay consistent and focused, and we do a good job.”

Yet much work remains. Like most states, Missouri remains underinvested in infrastructure, a situation that goes back for decades. Fortunately, as Keith says, the state constitution protects highway construction funds from raids by politicians for other purposes—a situation Keith sees in other states. Road funds come from state and federal fuel taxes, sales taxes on vehicles, and vehicle and driver’s license fees. “They’re all down a little, but sales taxes on auto purchases are down the most.”

According to Keith, Missouri boasts the sixth-largest road system in the U.S., but ranks 44th in terms of revenue spent per mile. Missouri allocates $50,000 a mile annually to its 33,000 miles of roads. By comparison, neighboring Illinois maintains16,000 miles of roads but spends $155,000 per mile.

Bridging the gap

With roads come bridges—especially in wet places like Missouri and surrounding areas. Bridges came to the forefront of public concern in 2007 when one collapsed in Minneapolis during rush hour.

“We have about 10,000 bridges, and 55 of those bridges are big, spanning the Missouri and Mississippi rivers,” Keith said. “That’s more big bridges than half of other states combined.” Keith estimat ed that 3,000 of the state’s bridges need work.

“We’re trying something new with our Safe and Sound bridges project,” he said. “We’re fixing 800 bridges in 5 years—and almost all of them are on farm-to-market roads.”

The stimulus will help with bridge repairs, and it will also build a bridge to a better economy. Even though Missouri hasn’t faced the highs and lows of the housing crisis as seen in coastal areas, Missouri citizens will generally be glad to accept the federal infrastructure stimulus package. MoDOT estimates it will create 22,000 jobs directly and indirectly, and will bring $3 billion to the state’s economy.

The federal government reimburses the state after projects are complete. All stimulus-related projects must be completed in 3 years, and all but a few Missouri projects should be completed in 2010.

A road to the future

It’s spring, and that means it’s time for MFA trucks to move fertilizer to its 130-plus farm supply facilities. From there it’s trucked, along with spraying equipment, to farmers’ fields. At the same time, farmers are driving their tractors down roads on their way to planting their fields.

MFA’s Bill Dunn is pleased that Missouri broke out of the starting gates first to collect federal highway dollars. And it’s not the first time. In 1956, Missouri was the first to award a contract under the new interstate highway program.

“By next year at this time, I look forward to seeing improvements on our roads and bridges,” Dunn said. “Since we were the first to start, I hope we’re among the first to complete our stimulus projects.”

Keith appreciates the stimulus, but warns that Missouri needs more. “We need $30 billion for projects over the next 20 years, but we only have half of that to invest,” he said. “It’s the same all over the U.S., and there’s no solution. We need more funds or we’ll face serious problems, but nobody wants to pay.”

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