Hwy. 14 Partnership takes aggressive stance

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- When Highway 14 Partnership members met here last Monday, they put a virtual unanimous stamp of approval on an aggressive, but potentially expensive, campaign to speed up expansion work on U.S. Highway 14 between Rochester and New Ulm.

The group's aggressive chairman, Peter Connor, mayor of Owatonna, gained the group's approval of seven "smash-mouth" position resolutions with very little dilution from the draft versions.

Whereas the gas tax increase draft, for example, read that "The gas tax MUST be increased ... , the final version said the gas tax SHOULD be increased. It was a fine distinction but an important one to a number of members.

Another example was a "position" seeking to raise Highway 14's priority within Minnesota Department of Transportation's construction schedules. The draft read that MnDOT and its district offices at Mankato and Rochester "must rank Highway 14 as their highest east-west corridor priority."

In final form, the position reads: "should rank Highway 14 as their highest east-west corridor priority." The "must" was of particular concern to Partnership members who sit on MnDOT District Area Transportation Partnership boards.

The reason is that the ATPs are an integral part of MnDOT's program decision-making process, and Nicollet County Engineer Michael Wagner who is a county representative on the ATP for MnDOT District 7 felt the Partnership's position should be less demanding.

Still, one "must" survived. The Partnership's "Timely Completion" position says Highway 14 expansion between Mankato and Rochester "must be completed by 2008."

However, with work on the segment between Kasson and the edge of Owatonna now on hold while the original environmental impact statement is reopened to determine whether moving the roadbed to the south side of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad tracks, as per a request by Claremont and Dodge County, west of Claremont is environmentally feasible, the chances of completion by 2008 appear to range between slim and none.

The Partnership has divided its seven 2002 positions into three categories.

Preserve and Increase

State Transportation Funding

1. Increased Transportation Funding. The gas tax should be increased by at least 7 cents and indexed for automatic growth and should not be used to offset any loss of General Fund dollars going to the highway trust fund for highways. Trunk highway and transportation bonds should be issued to finance long-term debt. Greater Minnesota should receive at least 50 percent of any new transportation funding.

2. Protect the Highway User Fund. The Legislature should place a constitutional amendment on the 2002 ballot to dedicate at least 50 percent of the sales tax on motor vehicles to the Highway User Fund. Funding sufficient to cover lost tab fee revenue must be transferred to the Highway User Fund until the amendment is adopted. Any effort to undedicate the gas tax or tab fees from highways will be opposed.

Fund Trunk Highway 14 Expansion

3. Targeted State Funding. The Legislature should target funding to Trunk Highway 14. Funding must be targeted to major transportation projects in order to complete construction in reasonable amounts of time.

4. Federal Funding. Congress should appropriate funding for Highway 14 as a High Priority Project in the 2003 Transportation Reauthorization Bill. At least $32 million should be appropriated to accelerate Highway 14 expansion. Three million should be included in the 2002 Appropriations Bill for an environmental impact statement for the Mankato to New Ulm segment of the corridor. Any new federal funds directed to Highway 14 are meant to supplement current funding and do not act as replacement funding.

5. Timely Completion. Highway 14 expansion between Mankato and Rochester must be completed by 2008. An environmental impact statement on the Mankato to New Ulm segment must be completed by 2005. The current EIS for Highway 14 between Owatonna and Dodge Center must be updated by 2003. Construction schedules must be accelerated and further delays must be avoided.

Raise Highway 14's Priority

6. Department of Transportation. The Department of Transportation and its district offices in Mankato and Rochester should rank Highway 14 as their highest east-west corridor priority and dedicate the necessary funding and staff to the project. The district ATPs should consider increasing the priority of Trunk Highway expansions in the districts. The Department is asked to provide support and assistance in securing funds from the Legislature and Congress.

7. Legislative Support. Highway 14 legislators should insist on increased funding from the Legislature and the Department of Transportation. Minnesota's members of Congress should include HIghway 14 funding in the 2002 Appropriations Bill and the 2003 Transportation Reauthorization Bill.

Getting It Done

The membership also approved an aggressive lobbying and media campaign to try "to force MnDOT to deal with Highway 14."

In promoting the strategy laid out before the membership, Connor didn't mince words.

"In order to have an effective campaign, it's going to cost money," Connor told the group. And, he admitted, getting the money to fund the campaign may be a problem.

The membership approved a budget which is at about the same level as 2001. However, Connor had two pieces of bad news for the members.

"The City of Rochester has decided to drop out of the Partnership," Connor said. "Rochester was our biggest dues-paying member so that's $7,500 we have to cover some other way."

The other bad news was that the 2001 budget had a shortfall of about $17,000.

Connor said that's why he is stressing getting more non-governmental, affiliate members into the fold.

"I want to make that total of 65 members a hundred," Connor said. Several members also volunteered to try to bring Rochester back into the fold.

If revenues do not increase to fund the Partnership's current budget, members gave the group's steering committee authority to make adjustments during the year.