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Train service across north Missouri suspended, after Brunswick railroad bridge collapse

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(News director Bob Ehle at Missourinet Moberly affiliate KWIX contributed to this story)

Norfolk Southern has suspended freight train service between northern Missouri’s Moberly and Kansas City, because of the collapse of the heavily-traveled railroad bridge over the Grand River in Brunswick.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris caused a rail bridge to collapse in northern Missouri’s Brunswick (October 2, 2019 graphic courtesy of NWS Twitter page)

Brunswick is a farming community, between Carrollton and Moberly.

The bridge washed out Tuesday evening, after a debris strike caused by heavy rain. Brunswick emergency management director Brent Dickerson tells our Moberly affiliate KWIX (AM 1230) that trains could be re-routed.

“I did talk to one of the (train) engineers and I believe that they’re trying to run the railroad tracks from like Mexico, Missouri around to a different rail just north of Marshall, between here and Marshall,” Dickerson says.

There were no injuries in the collapse. Chariton County authorities have set up barricades, to keep boaters away from the area.

“A lot of decisions to be made with the bridge, do they go up (or) down, do they move it a little bit or what,” says Dickerson. “The city is trying to work the best they can trying to keep everything open for them or if we need to close streets or whatever we need to do.”

Brunswick marine access remains closed for safety reasons. The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris helped cause the bridge to collapse. The logjam collapsed the train tracks.

Virginia-based Norfolk Southern operates in 22 states, including Missouri. Their website says they are “a major transporter of industrial products” like chemicals and agriculture.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Kehoe: “We’ll see what Missourians think is the appropriate response” on transportation (AUDIO)

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The state’s lieutenant governor says Missourians will have to decide whether a gasoline tax increase is needed.

Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe (left) and Governor Mike Parson wave to supporters at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park on September 23, 2019 (photo courtesy of Kehoe campaign)

Missouri’s 17-cent gasoline tax has remained the same since 1996. Last November, voters rejected a proposed ten-cent gas tax increase.

At his campaign announcement last week at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park, Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe (R) told the audience that a long-term solution is needed for transportation. Missourinet asked him that night if a gas tax increase is on the table. Kehoe says Missourians will have to decide that.

“As you know, our Hancock Amendment prohibits the Legislature from coming up with that solution, that’s probably a good thing most days,” Kehoe says. “So we’ll see what Missourians think is the appropriate response.”

Missourians approved the Hancock Amendment in 1980. It’s named after the late Springfield businessman Mel Hancock, who was elected to Congress several years later. The Hancock Amendment essentially requires voter approval before taxes can be increased by lawmakers, beyond a certain annual limit.

Kehoe says a long-term solution is needed, for the safety of Missouri families and for the reliability of our businesses.

“When you have the (nation’s) seventh-largest infrastructure system and you’re 49th in funding, it doesn’t take long to figure out you need a long-term solution. We’re all willing to listen to what Missourians think is the most reasonable approach to that, and then we’ll figure it out,” says Kehoe.

Lieutenant Governor Kehoe campaigned for Proposition D, the proposed gas tax increase, last fall. He spoke in September 2018 at the 84th annual Missouri Municipal League (MML) conference in Branson.

“What the mayors here (at the Branson conference) understand is they couldn’t run their city budgets and Missourians couldn’t run their household budgets if they didn’t have any extra income for 22 years straight,” Kehoe said that day.

The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has said that if voters had approved Proposition D, it would have generated about $288 million annually in new road and bridge funding.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe, which was recorded on September 23, 2019 at Jefferson City’s Memorial Park:

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Backwater from flood debris causes rail bridge to collapse in north Missouri’s Brunswick

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(Program director Brad Boyer at Missourinet Moberly affiliate KWIX contributed to this story)

Authorities in northern Missouri’s Brunswick have set up barricades to keep boaters away, after rising floodwaters caused the heavily-traveled Norfolk Southern railroad bridge over the Grand River to collapse.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris caused a rail bridge to collapse in northern Missouri’s Brunswick (October 2, 2019 graphic courtesy of NWS Twitter page)

The incident happened Tuesday evening. Brunswick emergency management director Brent Dickerson spoke to our Moberly affiliate KWIX (AM 1230).

“Just before dark, the railroad bridge west of Brunswick, the Norfolk Southern rail line, their main line, the bridge has washed out,” Dickerson says.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center tweeted Wednesday that backwater from debris caused the Brunswick gauge to rise. The logjam collapsed the train tracks. The NWS Missouri Basin River forecast center also says there’s been a significant drop in backwater at the upstream gauge.

While there were no injuries, Brunswick marine access has been closed for safety reasons. Norfolk Southern crews are working with Chariton County officials to to keep boaters away. Dickerson tells KWIX the barricades are there to protect people.

“So let the railroad have their barrier to work with, whatever they need to do,” says Dickerson. “And for safety reasons is the main thing, because we don’t know where the bridge went. We do know it went down, most of the middle sections did go down to the south. We don’t know if it’s there sticking up or whatever.”

The location is just west of Brunswick, which is between Carrollton and Moberly.

Virginia-based Norfolk Southern operates in 22 states, including Missouri. Their website says they are “a major transporter of industrial products” like chemicals and agriculture.

Missourinet has left a phone message at Norfolk Southern headquarters seeking additional information. We’ll update this story, when we get a response.

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Busy Rocheport I-70 bridge will be replaced, Gov. Parson and Sen. Blunt to announce details on site today

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A creatively engineered funding plan of federal, state, local and borrowing has assured that a critical bridge in Missouri will be replaced, instead of repaired. This summer, the Missouri Department of Transportation got $81 million of a federal infrastructure (INFRA) grant, plus the promise of state funding to borrow what it needs to keep traffic flowing over the Missouri River on I-70.

The money will also be used to build climbing lanes on I-70 at what’s known as Mineola Hill in Montgomery County, in the Loutre River valley.  “Mineola Hill impacts the national freight network every day,” says MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna.

“The combination of the two created a very strong application and the USDOT recognized that. But that did not provide all of the source of funding for the bridge,” he adds. “We had about a $106 million gap to close. We’ve been working very closely with the highway commission to fill that gap. We’re going to do that through cost-share and the infrastructure bank and we’re really pleased with the way that’s all coming together.”

The Legislature approved $351.0 million for replacement and repair of bridges, including $50 million one-time General Revenue and $301.0 million from bonding, which was contingent upon the award of the federal INFRA Grant.

MoDOT map shows where traffic flows within 48 hours of crossing the I-70 bridge near Rocheport. About 12 million vehicles cross the bridge each year.

Surge in Missouri construction jobs, shortage of Missouri workers

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Missouri’s economy is benefitting from an increase in construction jobs, especially to fix roads and bridges thanks to a windfall of federal and state support this year. Between July and August, the state gained 2,300 construction jobs.

But while there’s a surge in opportunities, there’s a shortage of workers in the state to fill these jobs. State transportation director Patrick McKenna and Len Toenjes, president of AGC Missouri Monday announced the growth and opportunities identified in an industry survey.

Their findings show that 80 percent of the state’s contractors are having trouble finding qualified workers. While Toenjes praises the ramped up efforts of the state’s technical colleges, he says his industry suffers from an image problem.

“A lot of people look at a four-year college degree, being a doctor, being a lawyer has a certain persona in today’s society,” Toenjes says. “Our message is construction is a very honorable career, that it’s about more than the money or the stature, while we’re looking at people who come out of a four-year college degree with some sort of huge student debt and some kind of degree that may or may not have any validity in the marketplace.”

Capital’s Welsh listens as McKenna, Toenjes announce construction numbers, flanked by bridge project on Hwy 63 in mid-Missouri

Eddie Welsh, chief operating officer of Capital, a Missouri-based construction contractor, says construction is about making money too.

“For kids that are 15, 16 and 17, the more that we can educate them that they can get out of school,” he told Missourinet. “We have a number of employees right now that are 19 and 20 years old making $60,000 to $80,000 a year.” Those wages are above the median income for the state of Missouri, and many of his field employees get the winter off.

Capital has major public projects underway around the state, including a flurry of bridge rehabs in mid-Missouri.

“We could add 30 percent more workers in the state of Missouri alone just for DOT work. the commercial work is so high, with people building big box storage for freight, FedEx and UPS and all those folks doing big buildings in Kansas City. St. Louis and all over. They take a lot of workers that would otherwise be working on Department of Transportation projects,” he adds.”

Welsh and other contractors hire crews from neighboring states to fill the gaps. According to the Missouri Economic Research and Development Center, Missouri’s construction employment is projected to grow 13.11 percent by the year 2026.

“We’re in the middle of a perfect storm,” Welsh says. “We’ve got state funding from the Department of Transportation, we’ve got a healthy economy and the one thing that we are all in need of is labor.”

 

 

 

Former U.S. Secretary of State to visit to Missouri on Tuesday

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Photo courtesy of Maryville University

Former Secretary of State John Kerry is paying a visit to Missouri tomorrow. He’s scheduled to speak at Powell Hall in St. Louis as part of the Maryville University St. Louis Speakers Series. He plans to talk about bringing people together to solve big problems and how climate change affects jobs and competition.

In 2004, Kerry lost Missouri as the Democratic nominee for president. Kerry served as United States Secretary of State during President Barack Obama’s second term.

The St. Louis event gets underway Tuesday at 8 p.m.

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USDA’s critical staffing shortages from KC move triggers the stalling of several reports

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Photo courtesy of Missouri State Fair

A U.S. Department of Agriculture research branch uprooting from Washington, D.C. to Kansas City has resulted in nearly 80% of its staff quitting and several regular reports getting stalled. Washington, D.C.-based media website The Hill says the USDA’s Economic Research Service will delay or not release reports on things about oil production, agriculture commodities and food pricing. Other reports impacted include ones about the way food stamps affect rural economies, the drivers of the opioid crisis and health insurance coverage in farming households.

The article says the agency’s entire publishing team has up and left, creating a major roadblock to issue the reports.

Several government agencies, farm groups and economists use the reports.

The department’s relocation of two research sites, Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is expected to create about 700 jobs for the Kansas City area.

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Enforcement credited for decrease in fatalities at Missouri rail crossings (AUDIO/VIDEO)

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Jefferson City Police pulled about ten motorists over during a railroad crossing enforcement operation Friday, at a busy crossing just west of the Missouri Capitol.

A Union Pacific locomotive travels during an enforcement operation on September 27, 2019 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Missouri Operation Lifesaver Executive Director Tim Hull)

The operation’s aim was to raise awareness of rail crossings.

A Missourinet reporter who rode with the Union Pacific crew on Friday observed a few drivers on cell phones, pulling in front of the train. Those motorists were pulled over. The intersection is between the Statehouse and the Kirkpatrick Building.

An organization that promotes rail safety education says the number of people killed in Missouri at railroad crossings has dropped from a year ago. Missouri Operation Lifesaver Executive Director Tim Hull observed Friday’s enforcement operation.

“That’s what we’re out here trying to do is make sure everybody knows that anytime is train time,” Hull says. “Always expect a train, anytime. It could be there.”

Hull, a former Missouri State Highway Patrol captain, credits enforcement operations like the one Friday with the steep decrease in fatalities at Missouri railroad crossings.

“Working those in conjunction with the enforcement operations like we saw today do the job of getting that information out there, making people aware of it,” says Hull.

Hull tells Missourinet that in 2018, there were nine fatalities and 22 injuries at Missouri railroad crossings, putting the state tenth in the nation in fatalities. He notes that so far in 2019, there has been one fatality and eight injuries at crossings.

Hull says a freight train moving at 55 miles per hour can take about a mile to stop, once the emergency brakes are applied. Operation Lifesaver says a person or vehicle is struck by a train about every three hours in the United States.

“It’s important to remember as you approach those railroad tracks to slow down, look, listen and live,” Hull says. “Because that’s the key to keep those incidents from happening.”

Operation Lifesaver also says there have been ten railroad trespassing incidents in Missouri in 2019, with six fatalities.

A similar operation was conducted a year ago in Jefferson City.

Union Pacific crews also say that people sometimes place shopping carts in the railroad tracks between Jefferson City and Kansas City, so the train can hit them.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Missouri Operation Lifesaver Executive Director Tim Hull, which was recorded on September 27, 2019 in Jefferson City:

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Missouri ag group head: “Corn growers on level playing field with Japan deal”

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Mark Scott of Missouri Corn Growers Association

The president of the Missouri Corn Growers Association says a U.S deal with Japan will put corn farmers on a level playing field. Mark Scott was on the recent trip to Japan with the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

“U.S. corn fed beef and pork, that was at a 12% disadvantage. So, it’ll increase meat exports to Japan. In turn, it’ll increase need for corn here,” Scott says.

According to the Missouri Agriculture Department, Japan is the third highest export market, accounting for $209 million. Scott says Japanese people love U.S. pork and beef and especially the marbling in the beef.

“They have big displays of American beef. You know, they’re pushing the American beef product over there,” he says.

Scott says with all the things going on in Washington, D.C., Missouri Corn is concerned about the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement not coming up for a vote.

By Julie Harker of Brownfield Ag News

Supreme Court hears complex rural Missouri CAFO and Clean Water Commission case

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The state Supreme Court has heard oral arguments this week in Jefferson City involving a proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in northwest Missouri’s Grundy County.

The case before the Supreme Court involves whether or not a 2016 state law is constitutional.

Trenton Farms LLC wants to build a swine operation, which is opposed by a group called “Hickory Neighbors United.” Hickory attorney Stephen Jeffery tells the court that a 2016 state law changing the composition of the Missouri Clean Water Commission is unconstitutional because it violates the single subject clause.

“Senate amendment number one is put onto House bill 1713 which amends (RSMO) 644.021 which alters the composition of the Clean Water Commission,” Jeffery tells the judges.

RSMO stands for revised statutes of Missouri.

Jeffery alleges that public representation on the Clean Water Commission “has been severely curtailed” due to the Legislature’s action. He says that because of the law, there is no longer a requirement that at least four members of the Clean Water Commission represent the public.

Much of Jeffery’s legal argument is based on the single subject clause. He says the law was amended, with about one week to go in the 2016 session.

“The membership of the Clean Water Commission has nothing to do with regulating water systems and all the other statutory provisions that were contained in House bill 1713,” says Jeffery.

The law was vetoed by then-Governor Jay Nixon (D) in 2016, but the GOP-controlled Legislature overrode that veto in September 2016, along with 12 other vetoes.

Grundy County residents on both sides of the controversial issue made the three-hour drive from Trenton to Jefferson City on Wednesday to hear oral arguments at the Missouri Supreme Court. CAFO supporters say it’s about economic development and jobs, while opponents worry about water and air quality.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued the case on behalf of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. Sauer is urging the Supreme Court to uphold the 2016 law, saying it’s constitutional. Solicitor General Sauer disagrees with CAFO critics who say the law violates the single subject clause.

“Regulation of water systems is clearly well within the scope of the broad umbrella categories for single subjects that this court has upheld in numerous cases,” Sauer tells the court.

He also says Hickory Neighbors lacks the legal standing to challenge the Clean Water Commission’s composition. Sauer also tells the court that Hickory Neighbors did not raise constitutional challenges on time.

The Supreme Court heard 34 minutes of oral arguments on Wednesday morning. They have not announced when they’ll issue a ruling in the case.

Click here to read the legal briefs from “Hickory Neighbors United” attorney Stephen Jeffery.

Click here to read the legal briefs from Solicitor General D. John Sauer.

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