Tom Warne Report, 26 October 2012
KY3 – October 23, 2012
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The completion of the new interchange at U.S. 65 and U.S. 60 marks the end of an era for highway construction in Springfield, Missouri. While more construction in needed, additional funding is lacking. “We have been talking for several years that our funding is going to really fall off a cliff as it will, and it has happened statewide,” said Bob Edwards, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation, adding that the shortfall means less new roads and bridges. “We can only do so much … there is going to be fewer and fewer projects where we can expand the system,” Edwards said.
The city of Springfield is working to make sure construction in the area doesn’t stop completely, however, by pitching in with their own funding. Last August, local voters renewed the 1/8th transportation sales tax within the city, marking the fourth renewal of the tax since 2000. It was initially approved in 1996.
“It allows us to have more money in our region that we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” said Kirk Juranas, assistant director of Springfield’s public works department. Another round of projects funded by the tax is about to start, and will continue for the coming four years. “I think people have been very pleased with the projects that we have completed and they are why they renew this tax each time.”
Plans for using the revenue from the Springfield sales tax include a new Diverging Diamond interchange at Kansas Expressway and James River Freeway, several road widening projects, and a new bridge to carry traffic over the busy BNSF Railway on Chestnut Expressway.
I have advocated for years for states to take financial control of their destiny by finding and implementing their own sources of revenues to fund transportation needs. Those who have are in better shape now than the states that remained tethered to Washington, DC for a major share of transportation money. Local communities, seeing the challenges of both funding and prioritizing at the state level would do well to consider local revenue streams. TW