Your Opinion: Paving the way to road improvements

Dear Editor:

During a recent trip to Jefferson City I noticed all the paving work that had been done on U.S 50. If the areas that were repaved are indicative of the most unsafe condition existing on Missouri roads and bridges then I wonder why MoDOT needs more money?

I would probably support a 1.5 cent/gallon increase on the gas tax and 3.5 cent/gallon increase on diesel. As I understand it the Legislature could have done this at any time, without a referendum. It would have raised an additional $80 million annually for road and bridge work.

Had the Legislature passed such a bill effective at the beginning of July 1, 2014, they would have had $160 million already in the state coffers that could have been spent for road and bridge work. Instead they seem to prefer screaming that "the sky is falling" until we will be frightened enough to accept a huge increase that we will be stuck with forever.

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