Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A Bolder Five-Year Direction

Faced with a severe decline in funding and the inability to match federal funds in the near future, MoDOT Director Kevin Keith presented a plan today to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission that includes reducing the size of the department's staff by 1,200, closing 135 facilities and selling more than 740 pieces of equipment. By 2015, the proposed direction will save $512 million that will be used for vital road and bridge projects.

"We asked the director to put forth a bold plan of action to address our transportation funding crisis, and he delivered," said Commission Chair Grace Nichols. "We don't like having to head in this direction, but the reality of our funding situation makes it necessary."

Find full details at www.modot.org.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am concerned about the closeing of the Nashua Maintenance facility. This building is one of the best in the area. We have just spent nearly 85,000.00 dollars on a containment area for our beet juice and chemicals we use to treat the highways. This barn also has been used to do the snow rodeos for the past few years. This barn is located on 435 and is very accessible to many highways. It is large enough to handle two or three barns. I don't understand why we would shut down a barn with so much going for it. I look at the other barns around and wonder where everyone will go. There does not seem to be enough room. Makes no sense to shut down a barn that has so much going for it and is central to all major highways.