MDOT unveils long range transportation plan - $275 million funding gap
BY JOE RUTHERFORD DAILY JOURNAL
TUPELO – The Mississippi Department of Transportation rolled out its long-range MULTIPLAN 2040 in a two-hour walk-through public session Thursday afternoon at the department’s Tupelo District headquarters, with large charts showing how much money will be needed and where work must be done to provide transportation adequacy.
MULTIPLAN (Mississippi’s Unified Long-Range Transportation Infrastructure Plan) shows in stark financial displays why the state needs $1.073 billion per year going forward, compared to $561 million it receives annually as it stands now.
MULTIPLAN does not suggest a tax increase to fund the gap between needs and revenues, but the summary says, “... Mississippi faces the reality of having to make difficult choices in order to pay for maintenance, modernization and safety.”
In other terms, $835 million per year would maintain existing conditions and $1.399 billion would meet all needs, a figure that has not been seriously proposed by any group or organization that must go the Mississippi Legislature for funding.
The draft report paints a severe portrait of conditions of pavement and bridges:
• 62 percent of interstates not meeting target
• 29 percent of four lanes not meeting targets
• 46 percent two lanes not meeting targets.
The research found 690 bridges functionally obsolete, 230 structurally deficient and 198 posted with weight limits. Bridge and pavement maintenance accounts for more than $1 billion of projected annual costs for adequacy.
The report also shows a $275 million funding gap between current revenue and the funding needed to maintain the status quo moving ahead.
MDOT asked in information available at the Tupelo session for additional public comment to P.O. Box 1850, Jackson, MS 39215-1850 or mississippitransportationplan.mind-mixer.com.
joe.rutherford@journalinc.com