Officials To Meet Feb. 15 to Distribute $1.3 Billion in Project Funding

JEFFERSON CITY -- In a first-of-its-kind public meeting, Missouri Department of Transportation officials will gather Feb. 15 with local representatives from throughout the state to begin determining where $1.3 billion in Amendment 3 revenue will be spent.

During the meeting, high-priority road and bridge projects throughout Missouri will be discussed and evaluated. Representatives from each of MoDOT’s ten regional districts will present their highest-priority project needs and help decide which projects most benefit the statewide transportation system.

The meeting will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15 at the Ramada Inn in Jefferson City.

In the St. Louis region, MoDOT projects are selected through a cooperative planning process with the East-West Gateway Council of Governments. MoDOT St. Louis District Engineer Ed Hassinger will present the proposed St. Louis area projects from 12:05-12:40 p.m. Gateway staff will be present for the discussion. The St. Louis projects will be those projects currently listed in Gateway’s draft long-range plan. Local public meetings on Gateway’s draft long-range plan begin February 15. See the website for additional information on the meetings and projects at www.ewgateway.org.

“Never before has Missouri had such an open, public discussion for selecting projects,” said MoDOT Director Pete Rahn. “Local officials will be at the table and will help decide where MoDOT will invest more than a billion dollars. We welcome any member of the public to come and watch it all happen.”

MoDOT has already announced nearly $800 million in new or accelerated projects financed by Amendment 3 under its Smoother, Safer, Sooner program. This $1.3 billion is the remaining bond financing, which has been designated for major new construction projects not currently listed in the department’s five-year construction program.

“The public voted for Amendment 3 and trusted us to spend the money wisely,” Rahn said. “Through these public meetings, I want everyone to see we’re making these choices with the full involvement of citizens throughout Missouri.”

Initial project requests gathered in preparation for the meeting total more than $8 billion. “We’ve got quite a job in front of us to whittle these projects down,” Rahn said. “The $8 billion in requests tells me two things – one, the projects we ultimately select will truly be high-priority projects, because we’re choosing from so many. And two, there’s lots more work still to be done -- $1.3 billion in Amendment 3 financing is great to have, but there will still be many important projects we can’t address.”

At a second meeting in April, the group will rank the projects and come up with a smaller list that will be presented to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission in May. Ultimately, the projects selected will be added to MoDOT’s five-year construction program and financed with $1.3 billion in Amendment 3 bond financing.

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For more Statewide information, please contact Public Information at 573-751-2840.
For St. Louis information, please contact District Public Information Manager Linda Wilson at (314) 340-4117.