Rural roads to get more money

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission has decided to spend 60% of all future bond issues on rural roads, and 40% on the cities. A recent Department of Transportation report on rural-urban needs had indicated even more money should be going to rural Missouri. But the group is worried about passing future tax increases to pay for the Interstate-70 widening project, and didn’t want to alienate urban voters. The commission decided to leave annual funding from the legislature split 50-50, and to alter funding on the bond issues, hoping that new source of money would be easier for St. Louis and Kansas City to part with.