TRIP estimates that Missouri’s roadways that lack some desirable safety features, have inadequate capacity to meet travel demands, or have poor pavement conditions cost the state’s drivers about $4.4 billion annually in the form of traffic crashes, additional vehicle operating costs (VOC), and the cost of lost time and wasted fuel due to traffic congestion. TRIP has calculated the cost to motorists of driving on roads that are deteriorated, congested, and lack some desirable safety features in the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas. The following chart shows the cost breakdown for these areas.

“Unless Missouri can find a way to raise the needed funds, the improvements made in recent years will be lost, and many critically needed projects will remain stranded on the drawing board,” said Will Wilkins, executive director of TRIP. “It is critical that Missouri adequately fund its transportation system.  Thousands of jobs and the state’s economy are riding on it.”