The Topeka Capital-Journal
cjonline.com
BY TIM CARPENTER
Created January 4, 2010 at 4:06pm
Updated January 5, 2010 at 12:47am
Debate on constructing a new Kansas transportation improvement plan during the 2010 legislative session will touch upon interlocking issues of economic development, fiscal responsibility, traffic safety and constituent service.
These financial, life-saving and political considerations play a role at the turn of each decade in development of a new 10-year program injecting billions of dollars into highway, rail and aviation infrastructure in Kansas. Formation of this next-generation plan will be especially daunting in 2010 because it arises at a time when state government is struggling to balance its budget. Obligating the state to expensive transportation initiatives during a recession is dicey.
Evidence emerged Monday during a special House-Senate transportation committee meeting in which members of a bipartisan majority endorsed the concept of a new long-range program but declined to put their names behind either of two options presented by the Kansas Department of Transportation.
The reason is simple: Both involved some form of tax or fee increase...
FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Tue, January 5, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski