Raising taxes may not be very popular these days, but don't tell that to Pete Rahn.

The recently-departed head of the Missouri Dept. of Transportation told the St. Louis chapter of the Urban Land Institute this morning that St. Louis, and Missouri, will fast fall behind in the global economy if it doesn't act now to beef up its roads, rails, ports and transit systems. And that that's going to cost us some serious money.

The legacy of good infrastructure that powered our region through the 20th Century is aging fast. Interstate 70, which binds St. Louis and Kansas City, is "a worn-out highway held together by band-aids," he said. Our big bridges need major repair. And while this sort of infrastructure work, he argued, while not all that sexy, is essential to economic development.

Yet we don't pay for it.

Add up gas taxes, registration fees and license plate fees and the average Missourian pays $129 in state transportation taxes a year, Rahn said. The average cell phone user, by comparison, pays $876 a year. Missouri has 33,000 miles of highways, he said, the sixth largest network in the country, and the 45th highest gas tax. Spending on road maintenance, both here and nationwide, falls far short of what's needed to keep infrastructure in shape, and with state and federal budgets in crisis, it's likely to fall further.

So how do we raise money?

Don't count on the gas tax, said Rahn. It pays most of the bills now, but raising it is "extremely unpopular," Rahn notes, and it has a limited shelf life, with alternative fuel vehicles expected to take bigger and bigger market share.

One alternative, a "vehicle miles traveled" tax, which charges heavy drivers more than light ones. Another? The opposite approach, a general sales tax, which would hit everyone about equally, recognizing that we all benefit from highways even if we don't use them. And, he said, get used to one thing we don't have much of here:

"Tolls are going to have to be a part of it," Rahn said.

The bottom line, Rahn said, is if we want good roads and rails, and the economic development that comes with them, someone's going to have to pay to keep them in shape - let alone build new ones. And that is going to take some leadership, and some hard decisions.

"We've dropped the ball," he said. "We're going to have to step up and we're going to have to stop vilifying the people who want to fix the problems we have."

Other highlights from this morning's talk:

- The region is taking another swing at federal TIGER Grants for transportation funding, after each of its 11 applications struck out  in the first round of the $6 billion stimulus-funded program. This time the plan is to take a more regional approach, said Maggie Hales, executive director of the East West Gateway Council of Governments.

"We're going to try to coordinate regional support behind one, or maybe two or three regional applications we can all get behind," she said. What application(s) will that be? Specifics are still being worked out, but Hales mentioned a program called Connecting Communities Through Trails and Transit, which involves East West Gateway, Great Rivers Greenway, St. Louis City and the Metro East Park and Recreation District.

- Lambert Airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge shot down reports that Delta is considering a hub in St. Louis.

"There is no Delta hub coming," she said. "That's a very false report."

The airline has beefed up here, to 34 flights a day this fall, and apparently considering adding more flights. But a hub seems quite unlikely.

- But Lambert is looking hard for new revenue streams, Hamm-Niebruegge said. That's driving their cargo efforts. It's also pushing the airport to look for real estate partners to develop the 1,200 acres of open land it owns. So look for more airport-related real estate deals down the road.

P.S. Are you on Twitter? We are. Keep up with the latest in St. Louis-area real estate and development news by following here.