With the safety of motorists on the line, not to mention $535 million in taxpayers’ money, you’d think the Missouri Department of Transportation would be checking every weld, bolt and cubic foot of concrete in the U.S. Highway 40/Interstate 64 reconstruction project.
But as Elisa Crouch of the Post-Dispatch reported last week, MoDOT is allowing its contractors to approve their own work. MoDOT’s own inspectors will “audit” only about 10 percent of the inspections done by the construction contractors.
The reason: It’s cheaper that way. MoDOT saves the expense of hiring its own inspectors. Besides, the free market orthodoxy of the Republican administration in charge in Jefferson City argues that the market eventually will sort out problems without government involvement.
Perhaps so, but it hasn’t worked in Washington (lead paint in children’s toys, beef recalls, unusable Coast Guard patrol boats), and it’s problematic for Highway 40. Cheaping it out on inspections is like riding on bald tires. The savings can’t justify the risk.

The reason is obvious: Contractors have a financial incentive to approve their own work. Do-overs raise costs, and contractors face penalties if a project isn’t completed by deadline. Inspectors working for the contractors know this. Honest though they may be, they also know the financial interests of their employers.
The consequences of poor design and construction can go beyond bumpy pavement. In Boston, shoddy installation caused concrete ceiling panels to collapse in a new highway tunnel, killing a woman in 2006. A year ago this week, an interstate highway bridge fell into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, killing 13 people.
Ed Hassinger, MoDOT district engineer, says the state didn’t want to hire more inspectors only to fire them when the project ends. Hiring a consulting firm to do the inspections “might have been a cost issue.” Mr. Hassinger says he’s confident the contractors are doing high-quality work.
In Illinois, all projects are inspected by state employees or consultants hired by the state, says Bill Frey, project implementation engineer with the Illinois Department of Transportation. That’s the way it usually has been done in Missouri. But the Highway 40 project is operating on the design/build model, in which private firms both design and build the project, taking over some of the work normally done by state employees.
The concept has its merits. But inspections should remain a state responsibility.