>>> Home Page
>>> Go to Navigation/Site Map
>>> Go to Most Recent Posts
Local highway projects deserve funding
Submitted by rcraw on March 27, 2009 - 10:40am.
Editor’s Note: The following column, by Southwest Transportation Coalition President Bob Lindall responds to the 2009-2028 Statewide Transportation Plan proposed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation earlier this year. A version of this commentary was sent to MnDOT Commissioner Tom Sorel.
By Bob Lindall
The success of Minnesota’s transportation system truly depends on the coordinated efforts of many public and private providers. The public and private members of the Southwest Corridor Transportation Coalition (SWCTC) understand the critical role of partnerships and the need to work together to realize a long-held vision.
The completion of the new Highway 212 is a prime example of the kind of major project that can be accomplished through determination and partnerships. The new Highway 212 project was not included in MnDOT’s 10-year plan at the time it was let, but was identified as a need in the 20-year plan. Businesses and community leaders all along the corridor were determined to see this highway built through decades of waiting. The need for this new highway was clear to both MnDOT and the public and the real issue was finding the dollars to complete this highway. The resulting benefits from the completion of this highway are very real and very obvious to everyone who drives the new Highway 212 in terms of mobility, pavement quality, freight movement and safety.The coalition continues to work for needed improvements to the transportation system including safety and mobility improvements to U.S. Highway 212, Trunk Highway 5, and other roadways, as well as improving the transit service provided by SouthWest Transit.The draft Statewide Transportation Plan lays out four priority goals: Traveler Safety, Infrastructure Preservation, Statewide Connections and Twin Cities Metropolitan Mobility. Needed improvements identified by SWCTC to Highways 212 and 5 would help to achieve these goals.
The Highway 212 Corridor serves as a critical transportation link all the way from the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area to the South Dakota border. This is an essential transportation connection – designated as part of the National Highway System as well as being one of seven key interregional corridors identified by the State of Minnesota.
This highway poses a real safety hazard as the highway switches from four lanes to two lanes, back to four lanes and then back to two lanes once again. The Department of Transportation needs to make the completion of this highway to a continuous four-lane facility from Eden Prairie to Norwood Young America a higher priority. A MnDOT study which is currently underway will provide a 30 percent design level, qualifying the project for design/build financing. Funding should be provided in the updated 10-year plan to eliminate this dangerous situation.Improving Highway 212 will greatly improve traveler safety, and it will improve statewide connections as this corridor is heavily used for freight shipments to the Twin Cities area. Communities all along the corridor support the Coalition’s continued efforts to improve this critical farm to market link.State Highway 5, running from Chanhassen through Victoria and Waconia to Norwood Young America plays a vital role in connecting these growing communities. With no major capacity or safety improvements planned, traffic jams will grow, with over 50 percent of the Highway 5 corridor predicted to be congested by 2030.
A Highway 5 Corridor Study was undertaken by Carver County and the cities of Victoria and Waconia, in collaboration with MnDOT, SWCTC, and the communities along the corridor, in an effort to guide future planning and improvements along Highway 5 from Highway 41 in Chanhassen to Highway 212 in Norwood Young America. The study found that the crash rate on Highway 5 is over 20 percentage points higher than the statewide average, while the fatality rate for crashes on Highway 5 is over 70 percentage points higher than the statewide average.
Highway 5 needs to be upgraded from a two-lane highway to a four-lane highway from Chanhassen to Norwood Young America. This highway is the primary east-west route that connects Chanhassen, Victoria, Waconia and Norwood Young America to the metropolitan area, providing access to important destinations including the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and Waconia’s Ridgeview Medical Center. The Medical Center serves as the primary care facility for residents in the surrounding area – an area that is over 700 square miles.
The communities in the corridor have begun the work to improve this highway, but the state needs to be a partner in this effort. The completed Corridor Study has also identified interim safety improvement projects that should be undertaken in the next few years. Improvements to Highway 5 will improve traveler safety, improve the infrastructure, which is deteriorating, and improve Twin Cities metropolitan mobility – three of the four priority goals stated in this draft plan. Funding needs to be provided in the updated 10-year plan to address problems on Highway 5.
In reviewing the plans for distributing anticipated revenue between 2009 and 2028, the coalition believes that a more balanced approach is needed. While 68 percent of the identified need statewide and 87 percent of the need in the Metropolitan District is for mobility improvements, the vast majority of the funding is being directed at preservation. A distribution that provides 77 percent of revenue for Infrastructure Preservation, 10 percent for Traveler Safety, 7 percent for Mobility and 4 percent for Regional and Community Improvement Priorities does not appear balanced among the various priorities. We also urge the Department to shift more of the revenue to Traveler Safety and address the very real safety problems on highways 212 and 5.
In addition, the Department of Transportation should give more emphasis to Regional and Community Improvement Priorities (RCIPs). The level of need in this area is likely to be much higher than indicated in the draft report since the Department has not compiled an actual list of needed projects in the Metropolitan area.
Particularly in an era of limited resources and significant needs, partnering with communities to meet needs that are a high priority at the local level would leverage additional funds with a modest level of state funding.
The department should conduct more of an inventory of these needs and determine the ability of local governments to partner with the department to meet these needs. Particularly in the Metropolitan District, providing only 1 percent of total resources to RCIPs does not allow communities much opportunity to partner with MnDOT in making needed improvements.
Dedicating a higher percentage of anticipated revenue to this area would not only help to meet pressing community needs, but projects identified by local partners will also improve pavement quality, traveler safety and mobility.
Bob Lindall is president of the Southwest Corridor Transportation Coalition and a former Chaska councilor. The SWCTC is a non-profit organization consisting of local governments, private businesses, individuals and other interested parties, with the goal of improving transportation in the southwest metro.
