Alabama's transportation priorities don't really change every four years, yet there has long been the prospect -- and often the reality -- of significant changes every time a new governor is elected. That unsound approach would end under legislation that passed the House of Representatives this week.

For decades, the director of the state Department of Transportation has been appointed by, and serves at the pleasure of, the governor. Some governors have used the appointment as a form of political muscle, holding out the big sums of road-building money the department handles as enticements to get legislators who want road work in their districts to vote with the administration.

Even when that hasn't been done, the periodic turnover in the governor's office sometimes has led to ongoing construction projects being altered or even halted with a change in administrations.

It's a poor way of handling the taxpayers' money and of setting priorities for transportation policies and projects.

But under legislation offered by Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, and backed by Gov. Bob Riley, the state would have a transportation commission which would oversee the department and hire the director. The commission members' staggered terms would extend beyond the terms of governors, thus helping provide a degree of continuity that hasn't always been present in the department's operations.

It makes a lot of sense. The bill, which sailed through the House on an 89-10 vote, establishes a five-member commission appointed by the governor. For purposes of the appointments, it divides the state into southern, central and northern regions, with one appointment from each region. Two appointments would be from the state at large, with the provision that neither could reside in the same congressional district as another member.

That assures broad representation, which is also mandated in another provision which requires the membership to "reflect the racial, gender, geographic, urban/rural and economic diversity of the state."

No one could make a career on the commission, either. Members are barred from serving consecutive terms.

Commission members may not hold any other public office. Further, they are explicitly barred from being "employed in the roadbuilding industry, as a lobbyist, or as an employee or member of a firm that provides goods or services to the Department of Transportation."

Perhaps the most appealing feature of the bill is the staggered terms of the members. The initial appointments would be for two, three, four, five and six years, with all future appointments for six years. Under that arrangement, every governor who follows Riley would have some appointments during a four-year term, but not all of them.