STL Journal, 10 June 05
Pete Rahn isn't the kind of guy who's going to take you for a ride.
Missouri's transportation czar clearly understands the funding realities at both federal and state levels. So when he discusses the prospects for a new Mississippi River bridge, he talks in political and engineering realities, looking to scale back drawings and find local funding.
Far from being blasphemous, he discourages the pipedreams that federal piggy banks are fat enough to fund the multibillion-dollar project. He uses the "t" word -- tolls. That's the kind of problem-solving approach this project needs, as opposed to those who continue to pray for megabucks from the feds.
Other states point the way in demonstrating how to take transportation planning into our own hands. Colorado, for example, recently passed a rapid transit initiative where funding comes from sales tax, not federal dollars.
The bridge project represents an awkward regional reality: The costs are greater in Illinois and more of the benefits will be realized in Missouri. The two state highway departments are joined at the hip, or at the bridge.
In all fairness to Illinois, Missouri has lagged in this process under previous (read "dubious") MoDOT leadership. Illinois has invested three times as much as Missouri in bridge development dollars.
A couple of years ago, we wrote the federal bridge funding was doubtful and the reaction of bridge advocates was swift and mean. And wrong.
The old business axiom that if you keep doing the same things the same way, you'll get the same results applies here.
To build the Mississippi River bridge, bi-state political and business leadership must be willing to consider alternatives to federal dollars, including tolls and privatization. Otherwise, this will remain a bridge too far.