The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Missouri Department of Transportation" ...
-
Highway Robbery
The Riverfront Times examines a one-cent sales tax increase, proposed by a subcommittee of the Total Transportation Commission, to fund a road building project in Missouri.
Tags: Missouri Department of Transportation; road-building project; highway; roads; state-highway funds
-
More than a quarter of U.S. bridges deemed inadequate, records show
"More than a quarter of the nation's bridges are too weak, dilapidated or overburdened for their current traffic, according to federal records." The Kansas City Star investigated Missouri and Kansas bridges, and found that "as of last year, nearly four out of 10 Missouri bridges were 'deficient.' In Kansas, nearly 26 percent of bridges rated as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete." However, "relief is coming. The Missouri General Assembly has approved selling up to $2.25 billion in bonds over several years to accelerate road and bridge projects already in the works. . . And in Kansas, the Legislature passed a 10-year, $13 billion transportation program in 1999. About $356 million of the money is earmarked for bridge work."
Tags: bridges; construction; Federal Highway Administration; Kansas Department of Transportation; budgets; transportation; highways; traffic
-
Priorities Rule the Roads
Missouri ranks second to the last in the condition of its major roads while Kansas ranks seventh nationally. "Several experts say the reason for the difference is simple: money per mile. The less a state spends per mile, the longer roads go without repair, the more they deteriorate and the harder they are to fix. Missouri's 1999 road budget provided just $12,399 in capital investments per lane mile that year, compared with $29,227 in Kansas. The national average was $23,967. The legislature has at least five pending bills and Gov. Holden has sought as much as $650 million for new funding. However, transportation experts says for every $1 the state pays to keep a good mile of road, it takes $10 to restore a mile of bad road." Missouri now must struggle to pay for the new technologies in road repair that they had so long put off.
Tags: Missouri Department of Transportation; road maintenance; American Association of State Highway and Transportation; Kansas Department of Transportation; road improvements
-
Troubled Bridges
KOMU's "computer-assisted investigation revealed that mid-Missouri's bridges are deteriorating and placing drivers into possibly dangerous situations every day... bridges dropping large pieces of concrete into traffic lanes on Interstate 70 ... the state had no plans to fix this problem anytime within the next five years... one in three bridges in mid-Missouri is structurally deficient.... it would take 49 years to fix the problems that current bridges have with current funding even though transportation officials say that an average bridge has a lifespan of 50 years...."
Tags: VIDEOCLIP TAPE TRANSCRIPT Department of Transportation; National Bridge Inventory; Federal Highway Administration; MODOT