93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Missouri’s Senate President predicts his chamber will approve legislation from State Sen. Lincoln Hough (R-Springfield) to six-lane I-70 across Missouri. That would include through the Columbia area.
Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) tells 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” the money is there to approve the $2.8-billion plan, adding that it’s the right thing to do.
“The moment that we’re in relative to having such a big surplus and having Jason Smith as chair of Ways and Means in DC and Congressman (Sam) Graves as chair of Transportation in DC, this is the year. I mean if we’re going to do something, we have to do it this year,” Rowden says.
Congressmen Smith and Graves both represent parts of mid-Missouri on Capitol Hill. Rowden and Hough both note Missouri has a record budget surplus.
“If you think about now, you know ten years from now, having a six-lane I-70 all the way across mid-Missouri, in addition to the rebuild and proper build of the 70-63 interchange, that money is already accounted for and is already going to happen. If you do those two things, that’s the ballgame for mid-Missouri,” says Rowden.
Under Senator Hough’s measure, the state would pay $132-million a year for 15 years to pay off the expansion.
