I am sick of the Government wasting our money on sidewalks and other projects that are not building roads.
And when I say government, I mean all levels, Federal, State and Local. Local governments will say it is a free or reduced costs project. This is not true on many levels. First off, most, if not all of these projects require a cost share of some sort from the local government (usually 20 or 25 percent of the total project). Secondly, the rest of the money comes from the Federal government and therefore we all go into further debt.
But this is considered a form of infrastructure. So are many other things and not all are useful or needed. Sidewalks are a great way to get around in areas that have a large amount of foot or bicycle traffic, however it does not appear that any studies are done on the true economic need for these projects. I have sidewalks going up in my area that have very little foot traffic and the ones that have been in service for a few years have little to no traffic. So, the “build it and they shall come” premise is not working. None of these projects appear to be worth the hundreds of thousands of our dollars spent on them.
But this keeps people working. Sure, concrete construction companies are given some work. Unfortunately, many of the larger roadway construction companies have gone out of business or left the state. Once we finally must start building large, needed infrastructure projects we will not have the ability in this State to build it. We must start from scratch or bring companies in from out of state. Some Engineering Companies get to stay busy with this work, but designing sidewalks is very different from roadway projects. When the time comes to start designing again, I’m afraid many of our best roadway engineers will not be available.

The sidewalk projects help to make our cities more ADA compliant. As a former School Board member, I am all too familiar with keeping facilities ADA compliant. Unfortunately, that is a moving target, just when you get elevators in, they change the requirements and require larger ones. It is very difficult to change the size of an existing elevator, much as it is to change the slope on existing sidewalks. And I have had handicapped people in my immediate family and I understand the challenges they go through every day. But at some point, the spending of our money could be directed into projects that could be truly helpful. Not these sidewalks to nowhere.
I say this for several reasons. We are heading into what appears to be another economic package to build more infrastructure in the States. I am all for this if most of the money makes it into true infrastructure projects. Unfortunately, in the past this has not been the case. In 2008, when we had the last large economic package sent down to the States, only slightly more than 10 percent was spent on real infrastructure projects. I know this, because back then I was involved in the first shovel ready project in the country and I was interviewed by a national news organization. Even back then, I lamented the lack of money being spent on actual roadway projects.
We need to stop accepting this “free” money from the Federal Government and demand our money be spent on actual roads and bridges. Sidewalks and bike paths are a luxury we cannot afford now. Until our local, state and federal representatives stand up and say no more, I’m afraid that this infrastructure deal will give us more debt and few projects, just like the last one.
As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact me at rocky.miller@house.mo.gov or 573-751-3604 or if you are in the vicinity of the Capitol please stop by Room 233B for a visit.
