Construction of the Hannibal Expressway is a priority project in rural Missouri, but even that designation won’t get the project built until federal lawmakers pass a new transportation funding bill. That message was shared by Missouri Department of Transportation officials Tuesday night at Arch United Methodist Church during a meeting to update the public about the proposed project.
During a recent meeting of MoDOT district engineers from across the state, rural projects from each region were ranked. Of the 32 projects submitted, the expressway came in at No. 13. Of the five projects submitted from the Northeast District, the expressway ranks No. 2 in this district. It follows only planned upgrades to U.S. 61 in Lincoln County, which happened to be cited as the No. 1 rural project in the entire state.
“We don’t have the money right now to do a project like this, but with additional funding we could,” said Bob Manzke, a planner for MoDOT.
Dave Silvester, assistant district engineer, said MoDOT is essentially in a holding pattern across the state because of the funding bottleneck.
“The federal funds are the big unknown. State funds are what they are,” he said, noting that two state sources of funding for MoDOT - the fuel tax and motor vehicle sales taxes - are both down.
For additional details, see the Wednesday, March 10, edition of the Courier-Post.
