Money gap remains in estimates for Mo.’s transportation needs

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Department of Transportation has scaled back its long-range estimate of the money needed for roads, bridges and other means of transportation.

But the revised figures still show a significant gap between the money needed and the money available.

The department has been saying it would take more than $37 billion to meet Missouri’s transportation needs over the next 20 years, and it was projected to have just $19 billion.

But at a transportation conference Wednesday, the Transportation Department’s chief engineer said new projections put Missouri’s transportation needs at more than $31 billion over the next two decades, and its revenues at $12.6 billion.

Conference participants were urged to help develop a new transportation vision for the state.