JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Mike Parson’s push to widen traffic-clogged sections of Interstate 70 remains on track as members of the Missouri House are poised to begin debate on a key piece of the state budget.
House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, unveiled the latest list of brick-and-mortar projects Tuesday, including $15 million for a pharmaceutical center in St. Louis, $3 million for Kirkwood’s community center, $1 million for Powell Symphony Hall — and $859 million to upgrade the interstate near Wentzville, Columbia and Kansas City.
Earlier versions had taken some of that amount for projects on Interstate 44, but in the latest spending blueprint, those also are funded at about $48 million.
All told, the construction spending outlined in the plan amounts to $2.8 billion.
The state is currently sitting on a surplus estimated at about $5 billion. And new revenue figures show the state could add another $1 billion in unspent tax receipts before the end of the fiscal year, giving budget writers even more of a cushion heading into the final weeks of the legislative session.
Under Parson’s plan, crews would add lanes to I-70 through Boone County in central Missouri and extend the sections with three lanes west of St. Louis and east of Kansas City.
The widening of those perpetually busy segments is a cheaper alternative than the estimated $2.7 billion it would cost to widen the entire stretch across the state from four lanes to six lanes.
Smith acknowledged that the widening projects will not be completed in one year and said that could open the door to an influx of federal funding to help defray the costs.
“Hopefully over the course of some years we can pick up some federal assistance,” Smith said.
Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, who is the ranking minority member of the budget committee, said he believes the funding for I-70 is part of a negotiating point between the House and the Senate.
He said the Senate is likely to add additional projects to the construction list using some of the surplus that has built up in the state treasury.
If that is the case, he said House Democrats likely will push their colleagues in the upper chamber to add more local projects.
“I’d love to see some investment in public transit as well,” Merideth said, pointing to a north-south MetroLink line under discussion in the region.
While the Missouri Department of Transportation will see an influx of dollars for the interstate project, the agency will not be selling its historic headquarters adjacent to the Capitol for $44 million.
Smith said he axed the building purchase because there is not a plan for the building if MoDOT moves out.
“We should have a coherent plan,” Smith said.
Another road project included in the proposal is a $6.6 million earmark to upgrade Missouri Route 370 and Salt River Road in St. Peters.
The plan also proposes $15 million in matching funds for a pharmaceutical manufacturing innovation center in St. Louis and $7.5 million to build a psychiatric hospital for children in St. Louis County.
St. Charles County could receive $7 million in matching funds to upgrade the emergency dispatch call and phone system.
Kirkwood will receive $3 million to help improve the city’s community center.
The plan also includes $1 million in matching funds to renovate Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis.
The legislation is House Bill 19.
The Culver House, the 19th-century home in the footprint of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s $100 million expansion, is demolished Tuesday afternoon, July 19, 2022. Preservationists hoped to move the vacant 1880s Queen Anne at a cost cited by the symphony as $2.4 to $3.2 million, but no one stepped forward to pay the relocation cost. Video by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
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