WASHINGTON  -  We are fortunate to live in the most scenic part of a beautiful state.  Southern Missouri and the Eighth District include the mighty Mississippi River’s banks, the big sky of the Bootheel’s plains, the wooded slopes and clear rivers of the Ozarks, and the rolling, fertile hills of Central Missouri. 

Keeping the different parts of our state connected and safe requires close attention and
the wise investment of our taxpayer dollars.  From a transportation standpoint, as well as one of homeland security, our transportation infrastructure is essential to quality of life and economic well-being in the heartland.

When we improve our transportation infrastructure, we are creating vital links between
people and their jobs, agricultural goods and their markets, and manufacturers and their suppliers.  In Southern Missouri, where we rely on our roads for all of these purposes, we must keep them in good shape for many reasons.   The links between all these regions of our district enable us to enjoy the best of each.  For every heartbeat of
commerce in our state, there must also be arteries that facilitate trade.  The roads to our ranches carry shipments of feed and equipment as well as the outgoing cattle ready for market.  Highways bring shipments of seed to our farms in the winter and spring, and they bear away the harvest in the fall months.  Our manufacturers, and small businesses rely on transportation infrastructure to carry in the inputs and ship out the finished goods.

If nothing else, our roads carry customers.

As the tourism industry grows in Southern Missouri, we find that people will travel to our
towns for deep breaths of our country air or a canoe trip down our scenic rivers.  The best thing we can do as we facilitate the economic growth brought by tourism is to provide good avenues to the natural riches of our region. 

But the quality of our roads is even more important to the people who use them every day. In rural Missouri, our senior citizens rely on highways to visit a distant doctor’s office, our children are picked up by school buses on the sides of busy roads, and truck traffic is common in our towns and between them. 

Attention to upkeep of our highways can be a matter of life and death.  Wider, straighter,
and smoother roads reduce the risk of traffic accidents.  Good infrastructure enables our first responders to quickly react to any situation that might arise when a desperate citizen needs their services.  Safety on our roads begins with the quality of the roads themselves.  Keeping them safe, secure, and in good shape is essential to our rural economy and quality of life.

To that end, I am very glad to report that the House of Representatives is completing
legislation to direct new and more resources to these lifelines of our commerce.  This year, the appropriations bill for our nation’s transportation needs includes a big boost for our nation’s roads – $34.6 billion – which is a billion dollars over the amount requested.  That funding makes possible more projects on rural highways, such as adding lanes and interchanges to the major highways in our district, U.S. 60 and U.S. 67.  It will also provide for smaller projects like the one finished last month in Dunklin and Pemiscot Counties to improve safety along Route 412.

But our transportation priorities extend beyond the white lines which border the concrete
of our highways.  Our rails, our rivers, and rural aviation are just as important to our Southern Missouri home.  They, too, carry large or essential shipments of goods and services.  We must see to all of the transportation needs of our region and our economic future.  Our rivers, rails, and roads connect us to opportunity, as well as to the land we love.