Missouri has made significant highway improvements with the money provided by Amendment 3, but additional funding is still needed to tackle projects that would ease congestion, make highways safer and promote economic development.

That’s the bottom line of a report released June 28 by The Road Information Program (TRIP), a national transportation research group. The report cited the early completion of the Smooth Roads Initiative and the Safe & Sound Bridge Improvement Plan as ways MoDOT is working to improve the state’s transportation system. According to the report, 74 percent of the state’s major highways are in good condition, up from 46 percent two years ago.

However, despite our recent progress, the report raised concerns about the dramatic drop in transportation funding the state will experience in 2010 when the Amendment 3 funding bubble bursts. The TRIP data confirmed the drop in our construction program from $1.23 billion in 2008 to an annual program of $569 million in 2010.

“Despite recent improvements to Missouri’s highway transportation system, many additional needed projects lack sufficient funding to proceed,” the report said. Examples included rebuilding Interstates 70 and 44, which would cost about $7.2 billion.

The report’s conclusion?  Additional transportation funding must be secured in the future if Missouri is to continue to maintain and improve its highway transportation system.