Stouffer: High-Speed or Better Roads?

It is personal — transportation is a part of our personal lives every day. It makes most of the goods and services we provide and receive on a daily basis possible. It is important to our jobs, our safety, our businesses and our quality of life. Transportation touches everyone.

This year, funding for transportation in Missouri has been cut in half. In a best case scenario, the folks at MoDOT are projecting the budget for building and taking care of state highways has dropped from $1.2 billion to $600 million. While this has been an opportunity for MoDOT to tighten its belt, it means less to put towards the quality and safety of our roads in the future.

The tight economy has meant a lack of focus on transportation issues in Missouri in recent years. Unfortunately, the latest move to upgrade infrastructure may not be as good of an idea as it sounds.

In late March, the governor announced he would pursue approximately $1 billion in federal money for high-speed rail that the state of Florida had previously rejected. This potential funding brings with it the promise of 1,300 short-term jobs and an indeterminable number of long-term jobs. High-speed rail is something the president has been pushing for and other countries have had for a number of years. However, taxpayers are realizing money from Washington, D.C. is not “free,” especially when we are out of it.

Folks can talk about “the future of transportation” all they want, but excluding highways is not a solution. Mass transit is not used outside of Missouri’s two major cities. High-speed rail between St. Louis and Kansas City or Chicago and St. Louis is fine for the few people who would use it, but what about the rest of the state?

There are concerns about the extra costs associated with the railroad tracks a high-speed system requires. No project is “free.” Improvements would have to be made throughout the entire rail system. Additional costs will be seen for years to come. No high-speed-rail system in the world has a decent return on operating costs and with Missouri’s terrain and competing interstate system, no economic study has found this idea to be feasible. These are the types of concerns that need to be taken into consideration before such a large-scale plan is proposed.

Ironically, MoDOT has been silent on the issue. No press releases from the department trumpeted the request; few folks in Jefferson City seem to believe we have a fighting chance for the funds. Still, it makes for good headlines for the governor around the state.

There is still a long way to go before any decisions would be made on the $1 billion. While high-speed rail may sound attractive, we have more pressing and more direct funding problems in transportation to deal with. Taxpayers are asking us to be responsible with their funds; this proposal may not be the road to prosperity that the governor had in mind.