Funmurphys: the Blog

The Politics Of Roads

The Missouri Department of Transportation is working on I-270 in West St. Louis County. They have ground off the top layer of concrete in the two lanes that still have concrete surfaces from Highway 40 (yes, I know it's officially I-64) to I-70. Normally I'm not one to complain about road work, but this time I am. To my untrained eye, there was nothing wrong with road surface on that stretch of I-270. I'm assuming (since there is nothing about the work on their website) that they will then resurface the whole highway, even though there are much worse stretches of pavement - like I-270 between I-70 and I-370, which they did a "micro" resurfacing to a few years back and which is in terrible shape.

I just wonder if it isn't just a way to spend money and maintain visibility in a part of the state that has a lot of affluent voters. And it only makes me dislike amendment 3 even more. MODOT tried a couple of times to get tax hikes for roads but they were voted down. So they hit on a different approach - they would ask the voters to stop the "diversion" of gas and license tax revenue to non-road related spending. MODOT told us we could get better roads "for free". I voted against it for the simple reason that it would mean cuts in other places that would be determined later and this time I agreed with the Sierra Club. In fact, Archpundit said that the amendment would turn victory in the governor's race into the booby prize because whoever became governor would be forced to make big cuts in spending.

So after some very unpopular cuts in state spending for which Gov. Blunt has taken a lot of heat, MODOT is spending money for no apparent reason. To all my fellow Missourians who voted yes on amendment 3, I hope you're satisfied.