SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Wednesday, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Transportation Budget Bill following a bipartisan compromise reached with the Senate. The legislation invests in all modes of transportation across the state by funding improvements for pedestrian and bike infrastructure, transit development and services, road safety improvements, bridge replacements, as well as freight and passenger rail projects.
The budget includes a funding proposal, authored by Rep. Julie Sandstede (DFL – Hibbing) to improve safety on the Highway 169 Cross Range Expressway. The legislation invests $500,000 for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) District 1 office to perform cost estimating, environmental permitting, and preliminary engineering for the improvements.
“Families in our region have experienced too many tragedies on this dangerous stretch of roadway. I've worked for several years to deliver safety investments in the Cross Range Expressway and I’m grateful the budget includes this important funding,” Rep. Sandstede said. “We’ve assembled a bipartisan transportation budget with a true statewide vision that invests in Minnesotans in every corner of the state. The investments will help everyone safely travel to work or school, to visit family, or to explore our great state.”
Minnesota’s 705 cities with populations under 5,000 receive no funding from gas tax proceeds toward local road and bridge infrastructure. To address this shortcoming, the budget invests $18 million in the Small Cities Assistance Program. The transportation budget prioritizes student safety by investing in safe routes to school to assist cities, counties, and towns statewide with local infrastructure projects to help ensure that students can safely walk or bike to school. To reopen driver’s license exam stations closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the budget invests $2.598 million in each of the next two years. The budget also contains grants to install cameras on school bus stop arms to help catch and enforce stop arm violations. Additionally, the transportation budget contains funding for additional State Troopers, non-sworn Capitol Security officers, and body-worn cameras for all new positions.
A spreadsheet of the investments contained within the legislation is available here. Video of the House Floor session will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.