Dick Hall: Tolls, Higher Gas Tax May Be Needed for New Highways, Maintenance

COMMISSIONER DICK HALL

Hall featured on Episode 6 of ‘Better Mississippi Report Podcast’

From the Better Mississippi Report:

JACKSON (Monday, Aug. 16, 2010) – Mississippi Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall says state leaders likely will have to find new money to fund highways and highway maintenance – including the possibility of toll roads and raising the state’s gasoline tax.

Hall said the current state gas tax of 18 cents a gallon no longer generates enough cash to maintain highways – especially with people driving less and vehicles getting better gas mileage.

“The cold, hard facts are (the gasoline tax) doesn’t generate what it did,” Hall said. “The only reason that we are not at a worst bind than we are is there are a lot more vehicles out there than there used to be. In fact, in a 10-year period in Mississippi the number of 18-wheelers increased 99.1 percent.

“At some point, that’s going to level off. As I said, the automobiles get higher and higher gas mileage. And the more gasoline goes up … people are going to drive less. So, the resources are fewer and the dollar buys less than it used to.”

Hall spoke about the gasoline tax, the benefits of the 1987 statewide four-lane highway program and planned highway projects in Meridian, South Mississippi and metropolitan Jackson in a far-ranging interview featured on Episode 6 of the “Better Mississippi Report Podcast.”

The podcast was released Monday, Aug. 16. You can listen to the report with a built-in podcast player found in the column on the right of this Web site; you also can download a copy of the podcast for listening on your computer or personal listening device by clicking here.

Hall represents the Central District on the three-member elected Mississippi Transportation Commission. The commission, in turn, oversees the Mississippi Department of Transportation – an agency that, among other things, manages highway construction and maintenance, weight enforcement and rail planning.

Hall, a Republican, was first appointed to the commission in 1999 by former Gov. Kirk Fordice; he has since won election three times and plans to run again in 2011. Before joining the commission, Hall served three terms in the state House and three in the state Senate.

Among the projects MDOT is considering: the widening of Interstate 20-59 through Meridian and a major highway linking Jackson and the Gulf Coast possibly parallel to U.S. 49. And, he said, funding for the agency will remain a major issue.

“The tolls are certainly a possibility,” Hall said. “We are looking at everything out there. But sooner or later, Congress, the president, our governor and our Legislature are going to have to face up and say ‘We’ve got to face this thing. We’ve got to fund some kind of solution.’”


The Better Mississippi Group, an independent, non-partisan business based in Jackson, is dedicated to improving the state of Mississippi by encouraging good public policy; supporting issues vital to improving the state’s quality of life; and encouraging effective, forward-thinking elected leadership.