Governor Dayton, MnDOT Announce 10 ‘Corridors of Commerce’ Projects

BEMIDJI, Minn. – ST. PAUL, MN – Governor Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced today that ten highway construction projects will receive funding through the state’s new $300 million Corridors of Commerce program. The projects will strengthen Minnesota’s transportation system by adding capacity and improving the movement of freight across the state.

“These projects will reduce travel times and improve safety for Minnesota citizens, and help our businesses transport their products more efficiently,” said Governor Dayton. “The number of projects from all over our state, which sought financing from this program, underscores the acute need for more transportation funding.”

Transportation improvements include the addition of lanes, bypasses and shoulders to essential travel corridors in the state, including Interstate 94 between Rogers and St. Michael, Highway 14 in southern Minnesota, and Highway 34 between Detroit Lakes and Nevis. The bonding authority is effective July 1, 2014, with five projects scheduled to start in 2014, three in 2015 and two in 2016.

The selected projects were among more than 400 proposals representing more than 100 unique projects that MnDOT received earlier this fall from public sector partners, stakeholders and interested citizens across the state. Agency staff evaluated eligible projects on selection criteria that included project readiness and deliverability, community support, projected return on investment, and safety impacts.

“These projects represent a great first step for the Corridors of Commerce program,” said MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle. “These critical improvements demonstrate our commitment to providing a commerce friendly network of freight corridors to ship goods and provide safety and mobility to all users.”

Enacted during the 2013 legislative session, the Corridors of Commerce program authorizes trunk highway bonding to be used for projects that are not already in the state’s four-year State Transportation Improvement Program. The legislation established two major goals for the program: to increase highway capacity on segments where bottlenecks occur and to improve the movement of freight and reduce barriers to commerce.

The selected projects are:

Route	Project	Preliminary Cost Estimate (millions)	Estimated Construction Start	Project Category
Hwy 2	Passing lanes from Cass Lake to Deer River	$8-$10	2014	Freight Improvement
I-94	Lanes from MN 101 to MN 241	$35-$46	2014	IRC Capacity Development
Hwy 34	Passing lanes from Detroit Lakes to Nevis	$11-$15	2014	Freight Improvement
Hwy 14	4‐lane Owatonna to Dodge Center	$16-$20	2014	IRC Capacity Development
Hwy 610	Freeway from CSAH 81 to I‐94	$103-$131	2014	Metro Capacity Development
Hwy 14	4‐lane N. Mankato to Nicollet	$20-$28	2015	IRC Capacity Development
Hwy 14	Nicollet Bypass (4 lane)	$15-$25	2015	IRC Capacity Development
I-694	Dynamic shoulder lane from Rice to Lexington	$35-$42	2015	Metro Capacity Development
Hwy 169	4‐lane from CSAH 15 to 1 mile east of CSAH 7	$14-$20	2016	Freight Improvement
Hwy 23	Passing lanes from Willmar to I‐90	$13-$19	2016	Freight Improvement

 

“There were many good project proposals submitted, indicative of the need and desire to improve Minnesota’s transportation network,” Zelle said. “Unfortunately, we have more projects than money to go around. I’ve been travelling around the state this fall to draw attention to the need for a long-term stable funding source for transportation. My hope is that state and local governments, stakeholders and user groups will join together to address this problem today, to keep our state competitive tomorrow.”

More information about the Corridors of Commerce program can be found at www.mndot.gov/corridorsofcommerce/.