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State Representative Sarah Anderson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5511
For more information contact: Jodi Boyne 651-296-0640
NEWS COLUMN
ANDERSON: SEVERAL ANSWERS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
By Sarah Anderson
District 43A, State Representative
If you live in Plymouth the odds are pretty good that you spend some portion of your day sitting in a traffic jam. More than 90 percent of us drive to work alone or share a carpool. Either way, it is frustrating.
It is even more frustrating because we cannot solve the transportation problem overnight. A lack of foresight over the last two decades leaves us in the unenviable position of having to make up for 20 years of neglect while planning for the future at the same time.
Highway 55 is one such example. MNDOT is in the early stages of planning to expand the highway through Plymouth and points farther west. Later this year they will hold public hearings on the initial environmental assessments and design plans. It will be 20 years before crews actually hit the roads, but this is the time for people to get involved and voice any concerns you might have. It is also the kind of advance planning our state has failed to do over the last two decades that leaves us where we are today.
In addition to better planning, we also need consistent, reliable funding sources. Last year, voters approved the constitutional amendment to dedicate all vehicle taxes to transportation. That was a good start and I supported it. How that money gets spent will be up to the Legislature and I believe we should put a formula into law that ensures the money is spent where we need it most. I am part of a “suburban coalition” of legislators from both parties that is pushing to devote 60 percent of vehicle taxes specifically to roads and highways, with another 38 percent going directly to transit. (The remaining two percent would go to rural Minnesota transit.)
Why should we divide up the money in this way? Because it gives us the predictability we need to plan for projects, like the Highway 55 expansion, that won’t begin for many, many years.
Bonding is another option for financing transportation projects. We should always be careful when using the state’s credit card, but it can be a great asset in building roads. Bonding lets us start projects sooner or speed up existing projects and get them paid for before construction materials get more expensive. Borrowing money does make us pay interest, but if it costs less than what we might pay 5 or 10 years down the road, bonding is something we should definitely consider.
We also have to think about safety. With the help of local officials, I pushed for money to fund cable barriers in the median of I-494. At $100,000 per mile and with only three miles left to go, cable barriers are the best way to reduce the likelihood of cars crossing into on-coming traffic and preventing fatal head-on collisions. I am happy to say the Department of Transportation will begin construction on these cable barriers this spring.
My own commute time has nearly doubled since 2000, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more people shared that experience. Keeping it steady or reducing it will take planning, foresight and dedication. I think today’s group of young, bipartisan suburban legislators understand those needs and we are ready to meet them.
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