A state lawmaker isn’t happy with the Missouri Department of Transportation , telling its director he isn’t looking toward the future.
Reviewing MoDOT’s report to the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight entitled "Transportation for the Next Generation", Sen. Joan Bray (D-St. Louis) sees a lack of vision. Bray criticizes the report for focusing on roads and bridges and not emphasizing alternative forms of transportation.
Bray tells State Transportation Director Pete Rahn MoDOT needs to look beyond highways, toward mass transit. Rahn resists Bray’s suggestion that money for highway construction should be shifted to mass transit. He says the solution isn’t to rob needed funding in one area to increase funding in another. Rahn suggests lawmakers consider additional funding for mass transportation.
Still, Bray says mass transit must assume a higher profile in MoDOT’s plans.