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Road Warrior

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In the months before the project's plans were made clear, much public clamoring was made as to whether the contractor would close all twelve miles of interstate during construction. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay referred to the notion as the "nuclear option" that could have a catastrophic impact on downtown's nascent resurgence. St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley also implored the agency to keep the highway open.

In May 2006 the civic booster group Downtown St. Louis Partnership released a study that indicated shutting down just one lane of I-64 would cost the region $38 million in lost productivity. Shutting down two lanes raised the losses to $89 million. The study never took into account the possibility that that the entire highway would close. "It's just not something we contemplated," says partnership president Jim Cloar.

A few months earlier, the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, a regional committee charged with distributing federal transportation funds, passed a resolution urging MoDOT to restrict its contractor from closing I-64. MoDOT's own telephone survey — conducted in December 2005 — found that of the 1,300 area residents polled, 66 percent opposed shutting down the interstate, even if it meant an earlier completion date. Publicly, Rahn downplayed concern that the entire stretch of I-64 would close but left open the possibility that parts of the highway would shut down. Still, more than a few public officials were taken aback last November when MoDOT announced its winning bidder — Gateway Constructors — would complete the project in just three years by closing down the highway in two different sections.

Beginning next January both east- and west-bound lanes will close between I-170 and west of Spoede Road. In 2009 the eastern half of the project between 170 and Kingshighway will close for construction.

"By leaving one side of the highway open Rahn argues that he's not totally shutting down the highway," posits East-West Gateway executive director Les Sterman. "But it's like a pipe. If you shut off one side, the water is not going to flow. It's the same thing with a highway. It doesn't alleviate a thing."

The losing I-64 bidder — a consortium of contractors known as FAM-64 and led by the Texas-based Fluor Enterprises Inc. — proposed rebuilding the highway while leaving two lanes open in each direction. Rahn says that while the FAM-64 proposal may have appeased certain critics, it would have provided fewer structural improvements and stretched construction over four years. By contrast, he refers to the Gateway Constructors plan as a "very bold" approach that will speed construction and make the work zone safer by eliminating through traffic.

The design-build model of the project will also save MoDOT a considerable amount of money. "If we did this the conventional way, we'd need another $200 million and the construction would take ten years," notes Rahn. "Design-build provides greater efficiencies. The contractors mobilize their equipment just one time and purchase in quantities that provide real savings."

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."

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.

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