Nearly 82 percent of people support government funding for passenger rail to and through Iowa, according to a recent survey done by the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and approximately 70 percent supported an increase in the gasoline tax in Iowa.

Senior Transportation Planner Dylan Mullenix was quick to point out that the survey was unscientific, and many of the 119 people who took it are “forward-thinking” in their transportation views, meaning the results would be skewed.

For the gas tax, the question provided for open-ended responses, meaning a variety of views. According to an MPO roundup of survey answers, several respondents said an increase is “past due,” while others pointed out that the gas tax is a true “pay as you go” user tax. Some even said raising the gas tax is “necessary to more appropriately fund road maintenance within the state.”

Slightly more than 22 percent of respondents opposed raising the gas tax. Among the reasons given for opposing the hike were that the economy is still “vulnerable to disruptive action” and that raising the tax would hurt low-income and middle-class families, especially in rural towns.

The question about passenger rail called for a simple yes or no answer, asking if the state should maintain its funding commitment. The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded $230 million to Iowa and Illinois to fund a line from Chicago to Iowa City, but to get that money, Iowa must provide up to $20 million in state funding, which is not in Gov. Terry Branstad’s current budget. Proponents of the line believe that it would eventually run through Des Moines and to Omaha.

“I do think people are excited,” Mullenix said. “Passenger rail is something that’s exciting people, and when you have a shot to get it, I think they are definitely going to want it.”