Missouri approves transportation stimulus project list

JEFFERSON CITY — The state transportation commission Thursday approved an $833 million plan for spending Missouri's economic stimulus money on roads, bridges and other modes of transportation.

The plan actually is about $45 million larger than the amount of transportation money that is expected to be available to Missouri under the stimulus plan.

But state transportation officials say they don't expect to have to trim out any projects because construction costs have been coming in 10 percent to 15 percent below projections. They say the larger list also could give Missouri a chance to gain additional money if other states can't quickly spend all the federal dollars allotted to them.

The Highways and Transportation Commission approved the project list during a meeting Thursday in Springfield.