Attendees of the Missouri Transportation and Development Council’s annual conference in Jefferson City have heard from transportation officials trying to figure out a solution to the state’s transportation funding woes. The council is a transportation lobbying group. One issue is the distribution of funds between the state’s metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Kansas City and outstate Missouri. Many representatives of rural Missouri have been lobbying for a return to the traditional 60/40 split that favored rural Missouri. Chief Engineer Kevin Keith says right now, the distribution of highway funding is split evenly between urban and rural areas. Keith says transportation officials must find a funding solution that is based on fact, is easy to understand while being accessible to the public, and comes from a consensus of what people in the state want. However, he admits consensus will be tough to achieve. During the same meeting, state transportation director Henry Hungerbeeler said AMTRAK would likely be cut in half this spring and eliminated this summer if the legislature does not provide relief very quickly.