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State Representative Joe Atkins

583 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4192

For more information contact: Matt Swenson 651-297-8406

Posted: 2007-12-12 00:00:00
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ATKINS RESPONDS TO MOLNAU'S CLAIMS

State Representative Joe Atkins, who has been leading an in-depth investigation of the Wakota Bridge delay for several months, strongly disagrees with Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau's claims that delaying progress on bridge construction is in the best interest of Minnesota taxpayers. Molnau made that argument yesterday in a 14-page letter addressed to Atkins.

Atkins said the Commissioner's numbers just don't add up, "Commissioner Molnau said MnDOT rejected Lunda Construction's revised bid because it came in around $60 million. But MnDOT's own estimates show the final price tag could be upwards of $55 million, and that doesn't include the $13 million this unnecessary delay is costing our region's economy every year.

"Five years of waiting has put a chokehold on our economic growth. Five years of being stuck sitting in traffic has cost Minnesota commuters wasted time and money. And we still don't have a bridge."

Atkins continued, "If MnDOT is waiting for around a better price, they're kidding themselves. With each passing day, the cost of building this bridge gets more and more expensive. It shouldn't take Bob Barker to know when the price is right."

MnDOT officials have told Rep. Atkins and other concerned legislators that the Wakota Bridge project may take another five years to complete. Atkins calls any further delay "unacceptable" and is continuing his calls for a speedy completion of the Wakota Bridge's eastbound span.

"A decade of delays is not in the best interest of south metro taxpayers," said Atkins. "It's time to get this job done."

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