Tagged: transportation

Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt took to the Senate floor today to speak out against President Barack Obama’s proposed transportation measure.

Obama has been pressing Congress to pass the transportation part of his stalled jobs bill that provides $50 million for roads and bridges.

The Senate is expected to vote today on whether to take up the measure. Blunt says the bill is a waste of time and will not pass.

A Democratic Congressman from Missouri has proposed giving transit agencies across the country more flexibility in how they spend federal transit dollars.

Rep. Russ Carnahan says despite millions of dollars from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (better known as the stimulus bill), more than 85 percent of transit systems across the country had to cut service, raise fares, or both - even as more and more people came to rely on transit.

That, Carnahan says, is because the federal money has to go toward capital purchases like new buses.

Calling it a "matter of survival" for his agency, Missouri Department of Transportation director Kevin Keith unveiled a five-year restructuring plan this morning that will eliminate 1,200 jobs, close 135 facilities, and sell more than 740 pieces of equipment.