MnDOT department bill passes House, heads to Senate

Modified U-turn rules, a change in the way the state calculates county-state aid highway payments and more than two-dozen other technical changes are part of a Department of Transportation housekeeping bill passed Tuesday in the House.

Following the 108-18 vote, HF2214, sponsored by Rep. Mary Sawatzky (DFL-Willmar), heads to the Senate, where Sen. Roger Reinert (DFL-Duluth) is the sponsor.

Among the changes proposed in the bill is a provision that would direct the Department of Transportation to alter how it calculates the amount of county state-aid highway funds to disburse in the upcoming calendar year.

The bill would also bring the state’s agricultural vehicle regulations up-to-date with federal regulations, and exempt farm vehicles not transporting hazardous materials from annual commercial motor vehicle inspections, pre-trip inspections and allow them to be driven with a standard Class D driver’s license.

Other changes proposed in the bill would:

• broaden an annual bridge inspection report filed by county engineers to include identification of bridge deficiencies;
• extend the expiration date of an advisory committee on non-motorized transportation to 2018 from this year;
• alter the state’s statute governing U-turns to permit vehicles to make a U-turn by temporarily using the shoulder of a road that has at least two lanes of traffic in the same direction as necessary for that vehicle’s configuration; and
• make changes to MnDOT rules regarding contractors, including allowing MnDOT to set a compliance deadline in contracts which, if missed, would allow the department to complete the work with another contractor when certain steps are met.