Eight counties | 36 cities | one region

ST JAMES—The Meramec Region Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) spent much of its Feb. 19 meeting discussing the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) 325 Plan and how it will effect roadways and transportation planning efforts in the region in the coming years.
The plan was approved by the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission in February and details howMoDOT plans to handle its anticipated subcontracting construction budget of $325 million.

“If our annual construction budget were $480 million, we’d be in good shape, but 325 is substantially less than 480,” MoDOT Area Engineer Preston Kramer said.

In the plan, to make those limited funds stretch, MoDOT has categorized roads into two categories—primary and secondary. Maintenance on primary roads, roads that connect communities, will be contracted out as it is now and will continue at current standards, but maintenance on secondary roads will drastically decrease to mainly snow removal, pothole repair and brush cutting. Secondary routes will be maintained exclusively by MoDOT crews with no contract work under the 325 Plan.

“We do have roads in the Meramec Region that look like patchwork quilts in the (Central) District,” Kramer said. “That is going to increase.”

Some 8,000 miles of MoDOT’s 32,000 mile system fall under the primary road category. These 8,000 miles carry about 73 percent of traffic.

In the Meramec Region, all numbered highways are considered primary roads with exception of a portion of Highway 89 in Osage County. All lettered routes in the Meramec Region are considered secondary roads under the new plan.

While projects already in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP), a document that starts with a planning process by the TACs around the state and serves as a guide to MoDOT in moving construction projects forward, will remain in the STIP and are budgeted for, no additional expansion or safety projects on secondary routes will beadded.

“The significant improvements to reduce fatalities that were made over the last ten years, we aren’t going to be able to do much in that arena,” Kramer said.

With work on secondary routes and expansion projects off the table, the TAC may need to change its project prioritization process in the fall, as many of the projects currently on the TAC’s project list fall under one of those categories.

Expansion projects include items such as adding turn lanes, and safety projects include projects like addingguardrails, shoulders and rumble strips.

In other business the TAC:

· Decided to research a potential funding mechanism for transportation in Missouri that was presented by Potosi Mayor T.R. Dudley. Dudley is suggesting a transportation infrastructure fee of .5 percent assessed on all vehicles sold in the state with the funds directed to transportation improvements. Oklahoma has a similar program.;

· Approved an update of the Regional Transportation Plan goals and objectives to include transportation resiliency;

· Heard a report from Kramer on MoDOT’s notification process to emergency response agencies and local governments when roads and bridges are closed due to safety concerns;

· Learned that three Transportation Alternatives Program grant requests from the region were funded, including sidewalk projects in Potosi, Hermann and Vienna.

· Approved a change to the TAC bylaws clarifying membership and member removal; and

· Heard a short construction update from Kramer as the spring construction season is nearing.

Persons needing more information on MRPC’s Transportation Advisory Committee may contact MRPC at (573) 265-2993. The group will meet again at 4 p.m. Feb. 19 at MRPC, 4 Industrial Dr., St. James. Meetings are open to the public.