Rebuilding Roads & Bridges is Focus of McCaskill Meetings with Missouri Transportation Director, County Commissioners

Press Release

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill recently met with the Missouri Department of Transportation Director and with Missouri County Commissioners to discuss the importance of investments in infrastructure to repair roads and bridges across Missouri to boost the economy and grow jobs.

"Rebuilding our roads and bridges is a top priority for me, and as President Trump made clear during his campaign, it's one of his as well," McCaskill said. "Given our central location, Missouri's economy stands to benefit in a big way if we could get the kind of investment we need from Washington and Jefferson City to fix our crumbling infrastructure."

McCaskill met with Missouri Department of Transportation Director Patrick McKenna as well as county commissioners from across Missouri last week in two separate meetings.

A recent report by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association found that of the 24,468 bridges in Missouri, 3,195 are classified as structurally deficient--2,987 of which are classified as functionally obsolete. The deficient bridges carry millions of passengers every day.

McCaskill has been a longtime supporter of investing in American infrastructure. She has led efforts to claw back previously earmarked funds to ensure the money is spent on critical infrastructure needs instead of politicians' pet projects. Her efforts allowed the Missouri Department of Transportation to direct $72.6 million of previously unspent funds across Missouri to support local needs. These funds were originally earmarked by Congress for use 10 or more years ago, but because they were duplicates, or the project was scrapped, among other reasons--the funds were never used.

In 2015, McCaskill helped craft a bipartisan highway bill that provides five years of funding certainty for states and localities so they can plan for their infrastructure construction and maintenance needs. Under the bill, Missouri is set to receive more than $5 billion over five years to fund road, bridge and transit projects.

Additionally, McCaskill joined a bipartisan coalition of nine Senators to introduce legislation to establish a new infrastructure financing authority that would help Missouri better leverage private funds to build and maintain the state's outdated infrastructure without the use of federal tax dollars, an important tool for large infrastructure projects when federal funds are limited.

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