Intro: | Missouri lawmakers and private citizens gathered for the final time to create a transportation plan |
---|---|
RunTime: | 0:43 |
OutCue: | SOC |
Wrap: The twenty-first century Missouri Transportation System Task Force is comprised of Senators, Representatives, state transportation officials and business owners. The force had nine public meetings across the state to tackle funding shortages for roads and bridges.
The task force was created by the General Assembly to assess problems with the transportation system and its funding. The group will release a list of recommendations in early January.
Missouri is the forty-seventh ranked state for transportation revenue per mile, meaning it has less money for its roads than all but three U.S. states. Further, its gas tax is the fourth lowest in the United States, at just over seventeen cents a gallon.
Jack Morrisroe, Newsradio 1120, KMOX.
Intro: | The Hyperloop system was pitched to Missouri lawmakers and executive officials as a way to attract businesses |
---|---|
RunTime: | 0:39 |
OutCue: | SOC |
Wrap: The hyperloop presentation at a task force meeting in Columbia, Missouri started with a chorus of boos, after a University of kansas logo popped up on the screen. Yet a Vice President of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, Andrew Smith, won back the room with his plan to bring a new form of transportation to Missouri.
Smith describes the Hyperloop as a mix between magnetic levitation and vacuum tubes. The proposed Missouri route would connect St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City.
The privately-funded project is working closely with the transportation department to write a feasibility study, which is planned for next summer.
Jack Morrisroe, Newsradio 1120, KMOX.
Intro: | Every private citizen at a task force meeting said Missouri's transportation needs more funding. The question is, how do they pay for it? |
---|---|
RunTime: | 0:37 |
OutCue: | SOC |
Wrap: Public-private partnerships were proposed to fund large projects. Toll lanes were one example, where drivers can go faster and avoid traffic for a fee. However, these partnerships would not raise revenue for the transportation department.
A gas tax increase was also proposed multiple times, because Missouri has the fourth lowest tax in the United States. State toll roads were also mentioned, but not seriously considered.
A less conventional method proposed local sales taxes to fund highway interchanges. Warrenton passed a one-cent sales tax increase to build a new interchange over I-70 last year.
Jack Morrisroe, Newsradio 1120, KMOX.
Intro: | TEASER |
---|---|
RunTime: | 0:05 |
OutCue: | SOC |
Wrap: I'm Jack Morrisroe with details on Missouri's transportation woes and ideas to fix them.