|
Sept. 21, 2007 For more information, contact: MRPC, TAC To Provide Input On Spending Additional Amendment 3 Money ST. JAMES—Because of a bonding opportunity, the Missouri Department of Transportation has an additional $140 million of Amendment 3 funds for highway and bridge construction, and the Meramec Regional Planning Commission, and its Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) will have the opportunity to recommend projects to be included, the MRPC board learned during its regular meeting Sept. 13. At a statewide meeting Sept. 5, MoDOT’s Chief Engineer Kevin Keith told planning partners that additional money was available and that MoDOT, as prescribed through the planning framework process, will be seeking input from its planning partners on how to best spend that money. The statewide meeting was the first of two to identify and rank Missouri’s most pressing transportation needs, should new funding become available. MRPC Executive Director Richard Cavender and Assistant Director Bonnie Prigge told the board that MRPC’s priority statewide projects faired well in the Sept. 5 Statewide Investment Priorities meeting. At the meeting, planning partners from around the state gathered in Jefferson City to hear presentations on statewide needs and then ranked them to provide a preliminary indication on importance. Cavender presented MRPC’s priorities at the statewide meeting. The TAC’s top priority—the four-laning of Highway 63 from Highway 50 in Osage County to the Arkansas line —ranked seventh out of some 170 projects. MRPC put forth two initiatives: Dedicating 10 percent of any new funding to adding paved shoulders to lettered routes, which ranked 19th,, and dedicating 5 percent of any new funding to preserving lettered routes, which ranked 30th. MRPC’s second priority— four-laning of Highway 50 from Jefferson City east to Interstate 44 in Franklin County—ranked 36th. TAC co-chairs—Salem Mayor Gary Brown and Osage County Presiding Commissioner Russell Scheulen—also participated in the Sept. 5 meeting and shared their insight on the process with the board. The 170-project Investment Priorities list has been shortened by combining like projects. TACs across the state will study the projects, and planning partners will meet again on Nov. 19. At that time, the new list will be prioritized again, and planning partners will also prioritize projects for the new Amendment 3 money. Those projects will come from the Statewide Investment Priorities list and must be ready for construction, Prigge told the MRPC board. “The MRPC TAC will meet Oct. 11, and that is an important meeting, “ Prigge told the board. “We need to get some direction from the TAC as to what members think are the most important projects in the state for the Investment Priorities process, and then we need to switch gears and identify the most important projects in our region from that list that would be ready to build. From there, we will work with each of the MoDOT districts on the most important district projects,” she explained. In other business, the board
Formed in 1969, MRPC is a voluntary council of governments serving Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties and their respective cities. A professional staff of 24, directed by the MRPC board, offers technical assistance and services, such as grant preparation and administration, housing assistance, transportation planning, environmental planning, ordinance codification, business loans and other services to member communities. The MRPC board will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 11 at its office at 4 Industrial Drive in St. James. The Transportation Advisory Committee will meet at 4 p.m. that same day. All meetings are open to the public. |