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Transportation bill shorts Hwy. 14

Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) is very pleased with the Republican plan for transportation funding that passed the House this week. The Road and Bridge Act of 2015 will not only “improve our highways but it will begin to repair roads and streets throughout small towns in rural Minnesota,” Torkelson said. He lists several area towns that will receive a little extra money for their street programs: Cobden will get $13,287, Clements – $15,690, Hanska – $22,275, Sleepy Eye – $87,378, Springfield – $62,432 and Comfrey – $23,326.

Well that should cover a good seal coating for those towns, we suppose.

Meanwhile, Torkelson doesn’t mention anything for the major transportation need in the area, Highway 14. That’s because there isn’t much. In fact, there’s not enough in the bill to get the Highway 14 project completed.

The Highway 14 Partnership did not support the Republican plan. The Republican plan provided $800 million in trunk highway bond proceeds for the entire Corridors of Commerce program for the next ten years. Corridors of Commerce has been the best chance in the past couple of years for getting progress on the Highway 14 project, but it is also intended to cover other major projects throughout the state. $800 million over 10 years for Corridors of Commerce will not begin to cover the cost of Highway 14 right of way acquisition and design.

What really delights Torkelson about the Republican transportation plan is that it doesn’t raise transportation taxes and fees. Instead it takes money out of the state general fund, shifts some transportation related revenues, like sales tax on auto parts and rental vehicles, to the transportation fund, and dedicates some bond issues to transportation.

The Republican plan for transportation is like buying a bigger bucket to stick under the leak in the roof. It does not care of the ultimate problem with transportation in Minnesota – the fact that the state has not been providing the funds needed to properly maintain our roads and bridges. The longer the state keeps putting it off, the more expensive it is going to get.

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