Do you think pavement improvements on Highway C in Carter County are important? Or repairs to the Briar Creek Bridge in Ripley County? Or does Wayne County need rumble strips on Highway 49?
Now is the time to let the Missouri Department of Transportation know what the most important projects are in Southeast Missouri.
Decisions that will be made in the next two months will determine how transportation projects are funded in the next five-year plan.
MoDOT is encouraging Southeast Missourians to get online and voice their thoughts on unfunded projects up for review for state funding.
This is part of the process to determine what projects will be included in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program. Projects in the STIP have the best chance of getting funded, according to officials.
MoDOT held its second-ever meeting — and the first to take place in Poplar Bluff — on Nov. 29 so the public and collaborating entities could hear an overview of High-Priority Unfunded Needs.
“This is only the second year we’ve done this. It really helps to organize what the public wants and vet it ahead of time because if money becomes available, we can move a lot quicker,” said MoDOT Southeastern District engineer Mark Croarkin
STIP represents funded projects chosen from the list of high-priority unfunded needs. They are compiled based on reports from Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Regional Planning Commissions.
The state decides which unfunded projects to move into STIP. Croarkin said the list allows regions to prioritize but stressed none of the projects on the Unfunded Needs list are approved.
“I always want to iterate though, these are not funded projects. People always think that when they see a project on the list, it’s going to happen. This is preparing to fund a project,” he said.
Croarkin explained the list is divided into three tiers plus a separate category for public and alternative transport. Tier 1 projects are those which need to be completed within the next five years. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are for projects arising in the next ten or more years.
“Tier 2 and Tier 3 is almost all system expansion or safety,” he noted. “Tier 1 has some asset management mixed in it.”
Local Tier 1 projects and their estimated totals are:
Carter County — pavement improvements and rumble strip installation on Highway C between Highway 60 and Highway F; $1.7 million.
Ripley County — improvements to Briar Creek Bridge; $1.4 million.
Stoddard County — improvements to the intersection of Business 60 and Highway 40; $2.1 million. Improvements to the south ramps of Highway TT at Highway 60; $258,000.
Wayne County — installation of rumble strips on Highway 49 from the south intersection of Highway 34 to Highway 67; $5.4 million.
The Tier 1 statewide total is $528.1 million. The estimates are in 2022 dollars and do not account for rising inflation.
Southeast Missourians play a role alongside planning organizations in prioritizing projects.
“What we’ve heard from the public is, don’t start anything until you finish what you have,” Croarkin said.
Tier 1 is full of bridge and highway improvements for this reason.
The public still has time to examine and review projects before approval begins. The full document of High-Priority Unfunded Needs is available at modot.org/unfundedneeds. Clicking the Public Meetings tab on that page provides access to all slides from the Nov. 29 presentation and a comment form.
“This is their avenue to have their voice be heard,” said regional engineer Matthew Wilkerson. The local 10-county region includes Ripley, Carter, Butler, Stoddard and Wayne counties.
Online feedback is due by Jan. 21, Croarkin said, and the approval process starts Jan. 23.
The available $10 billion is a dramatic increase from the $2.5 billion allocated during the last STIP cycle five years ago.
However, if Missouri’s fuel tax is repealed, “It would actually drop from $10 billion down to $7.3 billion in real money that we have when you start matching federal funds,” Croarkin said. He also noted inflation “eats up” much of the budget when a project starts.
STIP allocates funds to fully cover years one through three and partially cover years four and five. Money spent beyond the fully funded years is subtracted from the later ones.
Croarkin explained the district pushed through as much work as possible last year, “which turned out to be a really good move the way prices have changed,” but still spent $12 million more than allotted. They are currently another $11 million over budget on bids for projects this year.
Andrew Murphy, the Ozark Foothills Region Planning Commissioner, explained what this means. “So if the district spends more money than they have this year, or bids come in overestimated and they decide to go with that, the money is essentially ‘paid back’ from years four and five, which could bump a project that is being considered in five years back another year to cover the extra funding that was spent.”
Croarkin admitted this dampens what the Southeast District can do, but said prioritizing needs is still important.
“There might not be quite as much excitement right now as there was last year because knowing that I’ve got 30-plus million dollars to account for doesn’t leave much room to add programming, but if money becomes available, we want to be ready,” he said.