i-70ST. LOUIS (AP) — The chairman of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission says Interstate 70 is “falling apart” below the surface.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that chairman Steve Miller made the comments during a talk with St. Louis area leaders this week.

The first portions of I-70 were built in 1957. The Missouri Department of Transportation has made no secret of looming financial shortfalls, and Miller says belt-tightening leaves little room for the kind of project needed for Interstate 70.

Miller says 60 percent of the state’s population lives within 30 miles of I-70, with 60 percent of the state’s jobs also in that same corridor.