I keep coming across scenarios that worry me because they could be the tips of icebergs. As funding for transportation projects at all government levels become harder to find and even harder to predict, more and more important projects have to line up for whatever is available. Some must inevitably miss out.

Sometimes there are processes in place, sometimes not. And sometimes they will work smoothly and deliver the best result possible and sometimes they won’t.

The example this time comes from Kansas. The state’s Transportation Seacretary Deb Miller knows her stuff and knows how to get things done. But she can only try and help the process, the decisions in the end are out of her hands.  The people in Kansas who have to do this will get it done. But there will be situations like this across the country and in the end they will lead to some cherry picking of some projects over others when all were important, and also of course to a net drop in the worth, in all senses of the word, of our transportation infrastructure.

Check out the dilemma facing Kansans here via the Kansas City Star story on kansascity.com