AASHTO Journal, 24 October 2014
All three members of the elected Mississippi Transportation Commission are telling news agencies the state’s Department of Transportation will need more funding, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, to improve ailing highways and bridges.
Commission Chairman Dick Hall, who also represents Mississippi’s central district on a board that has one member from each of its northern, central and southern areas, said in an Oct. 16 Watchdog.org interview the state needs to put $400 million more a year into DOT spending on infrastructure.
“I don’t know if there needs to be a gasoline tax increase or what kind of revenue,” Hall told the online publication. “All I’m trying to do in my crusade is explain the situation to people … When you make major capital investments, like our transportation infrastructure, you’re an idiot if you don’t take care of that.”
Commissioner Tom King from the southern district told the AP in an Oct. 19 story new funding is needed to repair numerous bridges that are now weight-restricted for lack of maintenance or upgrades.
“We’re having to post a lot of bridges, lowering the weight limits,” he said, adding that affects farmers in northern Mississippi and loggers in southern areas who have to find more distant routes to market with their truck cargoes. “Now you’re talking about economic impact,” King said.
MDOT has 700 bridges with weight restrictions; the AP reported King put the total cost to repair or replace them at $2 billion.
Earlier this month, northern district Commissioner Mike Tagert told the Tupelo Kiwanis Club and a local newspaper the state should consider raising its per-gallon gasoline tax for the first time since 1987, and shift to a percentage tax that could help prevent future funding shortfalls.
“The only thing worse than a tax increase is to irresponsibly fail to maintain” transportation infrastructure for economic development and public safety, Tagert told the Tupelo audience, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. He later repeated his concerns in more detail in an interview with the newspaper’s editorial board, the story said.