Throughout most of my professional life I have had jobs which required travel and this job is no exception. This time of year I make a half-dozen or so trips to Jefferson City and, as many of you know, there is just no easy way to get to the middle of the State from the Bootheel.

Like many things, we take good roads for granted. Our friends at the Missouri Department of Transportation have worked very hard the last few years to improve the State's transportation systems and to establish a planning process to prioritize those improvements. A national study named "Grading the States 2008" recently pointed out that Missouri has made investments in its major highways so that now more than 80 percent of vehicle miles traveled on them are in good condition, as compared to 52 percent being in good condition just five years ago. A separate national study found Missouri to have the nation's third lowest administrative costs per mile and that MODOT has gone from having the nation's third worst road to an estimated ninth best.

This is a great thing for all of us. MODOT's Better Roads, Brighter Future program will improve the remainder of the State's 5,600 miles of major highways over the next five years. Amazingly, these highways carry 80 percent of all travel on the state highway system -- 103 million miles traveled per day -- and 95 percent of Missourians live within 10 miles of one of these roads.

On the home front, now that the John M. Dalton Memorial Highway (Hwy 412) has been improved to four lanes between Kennett and Interstate 55, we keep the 412 corridor on our list of priorities for the region. We want to close the gap between Kennett and the Mo./Ark. bridge so that 412 can truly be a four-lane corridor across Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas.

Improvements to Highways 53 and 25 are also scheduled. A contract was awarded in December for resurfacing and paving shoulders on Route 53 from Qulin to Campbell; resurfacing and paving shoulders from Poplar Bluff to Qulin and from Campbell to Holcomb is scheduled for 2010. Bids will soon be taken and, if a contract is awarded, work could start this summer to install a traffic signal at the intersection of Russell Street and Independence in Kennett.

Contracts are expected to be awarded to resurface Highway 25 from Route 53 at Holcomb to Highway 412 in Kennett later this fall.

It is vital to our economic health that a solid transportation system continues throughout the state and this takes money. MODOT has begun an earnest campaign to educate Missourians about the funding gap which will reach serious levels in 2010. Sales tax, fuel tax, toll roads -- lots of ideas being discussed at all levels.

So the next time we're on the road again, let's send out a thanks to the Missouri Department of Transportation for making sure that we've got a smoother, safer way to get there. What are your thoughts on keeping it that way?