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Today's Poll!Road funding called ‘recipe for disaster’
Thursday, February 23, 2012
As a car dealer and state transportation commissioner, Mike Kehoe opposed the idea of using tolls to rebuild Interstate 70.
But Wednesday morning, Sen. Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, sat before the Senate’s Transportation Committee, explaining a bill to allow tolls to pay for a “public-private partnership” to rebuild about 200 miles of the highway across rural Missouri, from Wentzville through Columbia to Independence.
Authorizing the partnership would allow a group of private companies “to rebuild what is a roadbed that was built for about a 30-year life that is about to turn 60,” Kehoe explained, “a roadbed that was built for 20,000 cars a day that’s getting 40,000 cars a day.”
And the current highway isn’t designed to handle the traffic that’s coming in the future, he said.
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Comments
gofish 1 year, 2 months ago
That's because someone else is signing Mike's paycheck now. Money talks.
linoge 1 year, 2 months ago
Gofish "hit the nail on the head" so to speak. This is Senator Kehoe's first big chance to cash in on his political position. Nothing new here, politicians often sell out their constituents. The problem is that this is a terribly bad idea. If the toll booths go in, they will be impossible to remove. Missouri will be stuck with a toll road from now on. This idea has come up before, usually in times of economic downturn when money is tight. A prudent lawmaker, one who was committed to public service over self service, would resist the urge to rush us in to making a rash decision.
muleman 1 year, 2 months ago
They can afford to rebuild roads in afghanitan but not here.
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