The Transportation Sales Tax (TST) is a 0.5% (half of one percent) sales tax that raises funds that are invested exclusively in transportation-related projects. The St. Louis County Board enacted this tax, along with an excise tax of $20 on motor vehicles sold by licensed dealers, beginning in April 2015.
To further accelerate investment and improve the quality of the county's vast infrastructure of 3,000 miles of roads and 600 bridges, the County Board approved bonding for $40 million dollars in 2015 and an additional $25 million dollars in 2016; repaying them with Transportation Sales Tax Revenue.
In five years, the county has invested a total of $120 million in TST related funding; including $65 million in bonding. (This is in addition to $210 million invested from traditional road and bridge revenue streams.)
Due in large part to these additional funds, the county has made a 60% improvement in the quality of its roads in just five years. As of 2020, only 12% of County paved roads (180 miles) remain categorized as being in very poor condition and only 51 bridges are considered deficient.
Additionally, the Public Works Department has invested heavily in preventative maintenance projects to increase the life span of our current infrastructure while maintaining it at a higher condition level.
All projects funded by the TST must be identified in the county's Transportation Improvement Plan.
The County Board is considering an additional $25.4 million bond sale in October 2020 as a way to even more aggressively make improvements. Again, these bonds would be paid back using TST revenue.