Representatives from 13 chambers of commerce who attended a recent Regional Transportation Summit in Joplin might have had mixed feelings after it was over. After keynote speaker Lisa McLean, pictured, a US chamber director, concluded that a tax increase of 25-40-cents per gallon of gas and diesel was necessary to stem the tide of crumbling transportation infrastructure, chamber members might have realized that they were wearing two hats--that of promoters of business as well as taxpaying individuals. Consequently, McClean's appeal to chamber members to contact their legislators in favor of a tax increase might have fallen on deaf ears. It's difficult to say, however, as the audience appeared to remain silent on this specific issue.
McLean didn't hesitate in revealing that her boss Tom J. Donohue was both president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce as well as chief executive officer of the American Trucking Association. Road infrastructure, consequently, was her main push.
While admitting that Joplin's street projects were on track and in "pretty good shape," McLean said that the rest of the country was not so and that more revenue obviously was needed to deal with maintenance, mobility and safety issues, to name a few. She reminded everyone that the last gas tax increase was in 1993 and that the purchasing power of money had diminished. Speaking of "track," no mention was made of the feasibility of improving the rail system as a means of transporting goods.
Pete Rahn, pictured at left, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, took advantage of an opportunity to sing praises of his department for working to improve Missouri's highways. He said that 5500 miles of roads carry 80% of the traffic in the state. While in 1983 only 40% of them were in good condition, now the percentage, he says, is 83%. He cited a survey conducted by Overdrive magazine in which truckers ranked Missouri roads as the fifth best in the nation, this coming after a similar poll a few years ago ranking them second worst.
Regarding a decline in highway accidents, Rahn attributes increased safety to the installation of median guard cables, rumble stripes and better signage. However, he took an opportunity to call for a primary safety belt law to contribute further to the safety of vehicle passengers.
"The condition of minor roads is trending down," Rahn had to admit, adding that a $300 million shortfall existed to complete promised projects on them.
As for I-70 and I-44, Rahn said that they have the same base as they had 50 years ago and that applying overlays is a very temporary fix. He supports a federal use tax as a means of addressing highway transportation needs.
Rahn further said that the threat of a transportation system not remaining "efficient" might cause the center of the country to become an "economic desert." He suggested that companies might move closer to the coasts.
Mark Turnbull, pictured at right, director of economic development in Pittsburg, KS, spoke briefly about the importance of completing the 69 corridor and the work of the Transportation Leveraging Investments in Kansas (T-LINK) task force. In addition to having good roads to move products, he stressed that what he called the "touch of an interstate" was necessary to be economically successful.
Randle White, a division engineer for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, was a no-show blaming the weather's havoc on the roads between Tulsa and Joplin due to an impending ice storm. Instead he sent a construction program and workplan that catalogs roadway projects, including right-of-way and utility projects, dated 2007 to 2014. No data was included regarding how the projects were to be financed.
For information about the FasterBetterSafter program and US Chamber Director Donohue's statement to Congress examining the stimulative effects of infrastructure investment on the US economy and the need for additional investment, go here.
Photos by Vince Rosati
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