Bridges deteriorate as lawmakers seek temporary fix
An updated report shows Mississippi's bridges continue to deteriorate as lawmakers work on "stop-gap" funding to fix the worst of them.
But the stop-gap measure faces political and pragmatic problems, as it would strip money long earmarked for road projects in Mississippi counties with casinos. And while transportation officials continue to call for a gasoline tax increase or other permanent funding solution, there's no appetite in the state Legislature for such a move this election year.
Of Mississippi's 17,091 bridges, 2,275 – or 13 percent – are rated "structurally deficient," meaning they have significant defects and are prone to safety issues that could endanger motorists. Another 1,290 are rated "functionally obsolete," or not suitable for their current use. The report says the state saw an increase of one structurally deficient bridge from 2013-2014.
The report comes as no surprise to state transportation officials, who say Mississippi would have to come up with at least $550 million to rebuild or repair all the bridges that need work.
"If we don't do something, we are going to be in real trouble," said Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall. "Serious things will happen. Somebody's going to be killed – that's what's going to happen."
A bill passed overwhelmingly by the full House and now before the Senate would provide some relief. But it faces some opposition and was amended in House committee in a way that may make it unworkable.
HB1630 would authorize $400 million in bonds for bridge work, and would use money now paying for road projects in casino counties to pay off the debt.
With legalization of casino gambling in the 1990s, counties allowing casinos were faced with large increases in traffic. The Legislature created the Gaming Counties Bond Sinking Fund, using $36 million a year in casino revenue, to pay off debt from casino counties road projects. Much of the debt issued for initial casino roads projects has been paid off, lawmakers said, and the bill originally would have used the $36 million for paying off new bridge bonds.
"But there are casino roads projects that still are not complete, including some projects that have already been let that have not been completed," said House Transportation Commissioner Robert Johnson III, D-Natchez. "Some folks have been saying to just fold them into the transportation budget. But that starts becoming chaotic. The work is supposed to be under a priority system, so when we just start folding in other projects … This bill needs some work."
In House committee, the bill was amended to move $7 million a year back to casino roads projects. Johnson said, "I've been told that $29 million is not enough to pay off the bonds for $400 million, so that's either got to be lowered, or we've got to find the rest of the money somewhere else."
Both Hall and Johnson say that even if the $400 million in bonds is worked out, it will provide only a temporary fix and bridges are only part of the problem. Mississippi's roads and bridges are in poor shape and expected to get worse because of lack of money for maintenance. Experts say the state needs an extra $400 million to $600 million a year for road maintenance and have predicted more than half the state's roads would be un-travelable by 2030 if the problem is not addressed.
Part of the problem is that the state, with an ambitious road building program started in the 1980s added 3,000 miles of four-lane roadways with no money programmed for maintenance. Another problem is state road money is generated by a flat tax of 18.4 cents a gallon on gas. As construction costs rise and cars become more efficient, the gas tax remains static.
The state also faces a pinch from lack of federal highway funds, which could become worse with the National Highway Trust Fund scheduled to "sunset" in May.
Hall said he's told lawmakers "this is the year to do it" on raising the gas or changing it to an indexed tax, because gas prices have been low, but "nobody wants to touch it."
"I remind them the last time it was raised, 1987, was also an election year," Hall said.
The Mississippi Economic Council, the state's chamber of commerce, is working on a study of transportation needs and ways to fund them. It is expected to make recommendations before the 2016 legislative session starts. Those recommendations are expected to include some sort of tax or fee increase to fund road work.
Contact Geoff Pender at (601) 961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter.