Missouri Bicycle News

Missouri Amendment 3 has passed by an overwhelming margin of the popular vote.

The result will be that about $180 million per year that current goes into Missouri's general fund will go directly to MoDOT, the Highway Patrol, and the Department of Revenue to fund Missouri's roads and highways. This funding change will be phased in over several years.

All of Missouri's vehicle sales tax revenue and fuel tax revenue will be exempt from Hancock Amendment limits (meaning that if the economy grows, making these revenues naturally grow, this growth will not be capped and the excess returned to taxpayers).

Much of the projected $180 million per year in revenue will be used to fund bonds. What this means is that for approximately the next four years, MoDOT road construction budget will be dramatically increased, until its bonding authority is exhausted. Then MoDOT's revenue will return to levels slightly higher than it is today.

The Missouri Bicycle Federation reiterates the points about Amendment 3 that it made during the campaign:

• Missouri hasn't paid much for roads and highways lately, and now we're getting what we paid for. Painful though it may be, this situation must be fixed, whether by Amendment 3 or some other way. Making good roads takes more money than Missouri is currently spending.
  
  
• Voters should know that most who really understand the situation, including Amendment 3 supporters, say that Amendment 3 is just a start in solving Missouri's transportation funding problem.
  
  Even Amendment 3 deputy campaign manager Jewell Patek emphasized that the Amendment is only "a critical first step".
  
  So even though Amendment 3 has passed, more money--much more--will be needed in just a few years, after the initial large influx of bond money is spent.
  
  
• If the Amendment brings new funds to MoDOT then this new money must by used to create a transportation system that meets the needs of all Missourians, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, and motorists. Missouri cannot use this new funding simply to continue at a faster rate along its present course, which largely ignores the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists.

Over 25% of Missourians do not hold a drivers license, 17% have some sort of disability now, 70% will have a disability during their litetimes, 8.3% of households own no automobile. Over 75,000 Missourians walk or bike to work and another 39,000 use public transportation.

Furthermore, all Missourians are facing a future in which the price of oil, which just a few years ago was as low as $12 per barrel, may exceed $80 or even $100 per barrel. In this environment, Missourians need real transportation choice.

At a time when the direct healthcare costs of obesity for Missourians are $1.6 billion per year, and study after study shows that one of the biggest causes of the obesity epidemic is the design of communities that make walking and bicycling difficult and dangerous, we call on Missouri's political leaders and public servants to create a transportation system that meets the needs of all Missourians by offering real transportation flexibility, choice, and safety for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. permanent link to article: "THE VOTE: Amendment 3 passes by an overwhelming margin"
posted by Brent Hugh at 11/03/2004 03:02:39 AM |comment on this article