ST. JAMES—Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) Executive Director Bonnie Prigge, Planning Manager Anne Freand and Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Meramec Area Engineer Preston Kramer will meet with Phelps County commissioners and citizens to discuss transportation needs on the state system Oct. 21, 2025, at the Courthouse Commission meeting room, 200 N. Main St., Rolla. The meeting will start at 10 a.m.

The public is encouraged to attend this meeting and share concerns or needs about road and bridge and multimodal – bike, pedestrian, airports, transit, rail and port – transportation needs. 

“It’s important that we hear from Phelps County leadership and residents about road, bridge and multi-modal needs in the county, so now is the time to make sure our county needs list is complete,” said Bonnie Prigge, executive director at MRPC. “If you cannot attend the meeting, please reach out to us at any time to add a need to the list.” 

MRPC and MoDOT are meeting with all eight counties in the region. Each county meeting will conclude with the identification of top road and bridge priorities and multimodal priorities. The information from these meetings is gathered and prioritized to help inform MoDOT for the next Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) as well as consideration of the Central District’s High Priority Unfunded Needs list. Each county is asked to select its top three or four needs to be prioritized with the other projects in the Meramec Region. Road and bridge projects will be prioritized at the December Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting and multimodal will be done most likely in February at the newly formed Multimodal Transportation Advisory Committee (MMTAC) meeting. 

Formed in 1969, MRPC is a voluntary council of governments serving Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties and their respective cities. Osage County Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin serves as chairman of the board. A professional staff of 24 offers technical assistance and services, such as grant preparation and administration, housing assistance, transportation planning, environmental planning, ordinance codification, business loans and other services to member communities.