Road Warrior

The 200-plus-page environmental impact study that MoDOT drafted for the "New I-64" cites several more economic benefits. The report concludes St. Louis drivers will shave 9,000 hours off their commute time, for a cost savings of $850 million over twenty years. The study further suggests that commuters will save an additional $460 million in vehicle operating costs thanks to the roadway's smooth pavement. Drivers will retain some $155 million in crash-cost savings over twenty years.

Curiously, the MoDOT study provides no such numbers for the financial impact the construction will have on commuters and businesses. Republican state representative Scott Muschany of Frontenac estimates that figure will exceed $100 million.

"They say they're doing it this way because it saves MoDOT money," says Muschany. "But what about the businesses along that corridor? They're exacting a tremendous toll on them. Employees are coming in late, companies are setting up satellite offices to deal with traffic, deliveries are taking longer — you name it. It's a tremendous burden."

This past spring Muschany crafted a House resolution demanding that MoDOT leave the highway open during renovation. The non-binding legislation garnered 40 co-sponsors but never reached the floor for a vote. Either way, Muschany says it wouldn't have mattered. Missouri is one of only seven states whose transportation department is ruled by a citizen committee of highway commissioners — and not the governor or legislature.

"In Missouri we really don't even have budgetary control, because MoDOT has dedicated income from the vehicle sales tax," laments Muschany. "They're ironclad. I can scream and shout as much as I want and they disregard public outcry and say, 'OK, now we're going to go ahead and do it our way.'"

Yet Muschany isn't giving up. He believes MoDOT failed to properly study the economic consequences of the project before agreeing to shut down parts of the highway. Now he's searching for a person or business whose property lies adjacent to the construction zone and can claim financial damage.

"The next phase is legal action," promises Muschany, who says he's secured attorneys willing to work pro bono on the case and an unnamed — but wealthy — individual who's agreed to bankroll the legal battle for as long as it takes. "It's not that I don't think Highway 40 needs to be improved, I'm just saying whose bright idea was it to close the road for two years?"

Ultimately, the state representative pins that blame on Rahn. "He's the one in charge, and he's accountable," says Muschany. "I don't think it's from ill intent, but then, there are a lot of people who do stupid, goofy things and don't know they're causing a major problem."

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Rahn's tenure in New Mexico was not free of controversy. In 1999 the Albuquerque Journal ran an investigative series on the manner in which Rahns transportation department bid the $314 million widening of N.M. 44 (now U.S. 550).

The series began: "Pete Rahn had a problem. It was April 1997 and Gov. Gary Johnson had let his Highway and Transportation Department chief know in no uncertain terms that he wanted N.M. 44 from San Ysidro to the Farmington area widened to four lanes. But Rahn didn't have any way to do it."

Two weeks after the governor's order, Rahn announced he'd received an "unsolicited" proposal from Kansas-based Koch Industries. The offer outlined a way in which the cash-strapped state of New Mexico could build, design, finance and warranty the highway through a public-private partnership.

The Journal later reported that specifications from the Koch proposal were used to draft the RFP (request for proposals) to bid the highway. Koch won the contract when no one else bothered to submit a bid. The Journal also quoted Koch executive Bob Heitmann, who confirmed that the "unsolicited" offer from his company had in fact been solicited earlier by employees within Rahn's office.

In response to the Journal series, Rahn drafted a handout critical of the newspaper's reporting and denied knowing of anyone in his office who contacted Koch about the N.M. 44 bid.

Like the current plans to rebuild I-64, the N.M. 44 proposal followed the basic tenets of the design-build model. Koch controlled the entire scope of project and completed construction within three years. The roadwork recently has come under additional attack as parts of the highway have begun to crack and buckle just a few years following construction.

"That road is 118 miles and crosses over mountains, basins and deserts with extremely unstable soils," defends Rahn. "The problem area is maybe three miles long. Given those difficulties, I'd say it was an extremely successful project."

As was the case in New Mexico, Rahn's critics in Missouri are now asking pointed questions about several MoDOT bids, including I-64. Last November Rahn raised eyebrows when he offered a handful of area leaders the opportunity to review the two competing bids for the project — but only on the condition that they sign a confidentiality agreement not to discuss the proposals outside the meeting. Mayor Slay and Les Sterman, of East-West Gateway, declined the invite.