Henry Hungerbeeler, the embattled director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, announced Dec. 2 he would resign.

However, he will not be gone anytime soon. The resignation will not be effective until June 1, 2004.

In his resignation letter, Hungerbeeler cited an independent panel’s report that said a management reorganization could improve the agency’s credibility.

“I am proud of my accomplishments with this organization,” he wrote, “but I have concluded that the agency could benefit from new leadership.”

MoDOT has been heavily criticized by state government officials, media outlets and local officials in the state over the past few years, especially in regard to a promise made in connection with a 1992 road plan, in which the department said it would build a four-lane highway to every Missouri city above 5,000 population. The agency announced later it did not have enough money to fulfill the promise. Hungerbeeler came to the agency in 1999, a year after the decision to back away from the plan.

The agency was recently the subject of a series of exposés by The Kansas City Star that pointed out inefficiencies and other problems within MoDOT. The Star said in the series that the state’s highways, once among the nations’ best, had fallen to being third on a list of the worst in the country.

Despite the criticism leveled at the director, the agency said in its statement that the resignation was voluntary.

“We appreciate the heart-felt dedication Henry brought to the job, his intense desire to elevate the performance of the agency and his conscientious efforts to represent the taxpaying citizens of Missouri,” Barry Orscheln, chairman of the Missouri Transportation Commission, said in a statement. “The commission has supported his efforts, and will continue to support him during his remaining time here. MoDOT is truly a better agency because of his efforts.”

Orscheln said the agency would start to search for a new director as soon as possible.

The task faced by any future director is daunting. Missouri has a relatively low fuel tax – about 17 cents a gallon – but the state’s DOT has more than 6,000 employees and maintains 32,000 miles of highways. Voters as recently as last year turned down a tax increase to make repairs, and the agency’s poor reputation among voters makes the prospects for a successful tax ballot issue unlikely. All tax increases in Missouri must be approved by voters.

--by Mark H. Reddig, associate editor

Mark Reddig can be reached at mark_reddig@landlinemag.com.