Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley recently formed a Blue Ribbon Citizens Committe on Missouri’s Transportation needs which will be holding public meetings across the state in the next several weeks. The committee is being chaired by Rod Jetton and Bill McKenna, and they will be looking at total transportation needs in the state.
It is imperative that supporters of public transit voice their opinions on the need for better funded and improved public transit infrastructure for Missouri. For every one dollar invested in public transit, there is a $4 return for the state. Not many other infrastructure projects are demonstrating such a return on investment. The current state budget allocated little more than $560,000 for 33 transit providers across Missouri including Metro and KCATA. In 1999, Missouri allocated a little more than $8 million for transit. This numbers has been on a decline ever since.
Missouri ranks near the very bottom nationally as well with regards to state support for public transit. This Blue Ribbon committee provides the opportunity to articulate the needs for public transit in Missouri.
The first meeting is set for Monday, May 14 at 1 p.m. at the MoDOT St. Louis TRansportation Management Center at 14301 South Outer 40 Road, Chesterfield, MO 63017. Please join us in attending the event and voicing your support for transit funding in Missouri. Here are some transit talking points that may help you.
Other meetings to be held include:
may 21 – MoDOT Northwest District Office, St. Joseph, MO
June 1 – springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Springfield, MO
June 29 – Show-Me Center, Cape Girardeau, MO
July 9 – ARC City Activity Center, Columbia, MO
July 23 – MoDOT Northeast District Office, Hannibal, MO
August 6 – Gamber Center, Lee’s Summit, MO
Committee members include:
- Mr. Ben Jones, Union Pacific Railroad
- Mr. Blake Hurst, Missouri Farm Bureau
- Mr. Estil Fretwell, Missouri Farm Bureau
- Mr. Brian Meisel, Lake of the Ozarks Economic Development Council
- Mr. Duane Michie, First State Bank and Trust
- Mr. Joe DeLong, DeLong’s Inc.
- Mr. Len Toenjes, AGC of St. Louis
- Mr. Neal St. ONge, Coldwell BAnker
- Mr. Rick Neubert, Delta Concrete Inc.
- MR. Tom Crawford, Missouri Trucking Association
- Mr. Tony Thompson, Kwame Construction
- Mr. Dan Mehan, Missouri Chamber of Commerce
- Mr. Ed DeSoignie, The Heavy Constructors Association of Greater Kansas City
- Mr. Jim Anderson, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce
- Mr. John Nations, Metro
- Mr. MArk Stidham, Dexter City Adminstrator
- Mr. Randy Verkamp, Phelps County Presiding Commissioner
- Mr. Scott Smith, HNTB Corporation
- Mr. Tom Dunne, Fred Weber, Inc.