By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

MANKATO -- Highway 14 has been rated the worst highway in the state, with one of the highest rates for traffic deaths, and city officials along the route say enough is enough.

During a combined meeting of the House Transportation Policy and Transportation Finance Committees, held last week, officials said it is time the state legislature gives the highway the priority it deserves.

An environmental impact study on the effect widening Highway 14 to four lanes from Rochester to New Ulm would have on the region, has been completed, Acting District Seven Transportation Planning Coordinator Dick Bautch said.

Highway 14 needs to be looked at along with other projects to determine where the priority lies, such as upgrading Highway 169 to freeway status and relocating it east of the river to bypass the developed areas north of St. Peter, he said.

The state needs to dedicate funding, estimated to be around $202 million, to the Highway 14 project, Rep. James Clark, R-Springfield, said.

"It's a balancing act," Bautch said. "We have three major corridors in this region that need to be considered."

His priority is on development of that stretch of 169 between Mankato and the Iowa state line.

"Highway 14 needs to be recognized as a major corridor," Acting Mayor of Mankato Kathy Sheron said. "This is a priority for us."

Sheron is the chairperson of the Highway 14 Partnership, which is made up of 22 representatives of cities, counties and townships served by the highway. They are united with the common goal of widening Highway 14 to four lanes by 2008.

"It bothers me that in all this discussion about inter-regional corridors (under Gov. Jesse Ventura's Big Plan) that Mankato is not identified as a regional center," she said. "That leaves this region of the state without a major identifiable trade center."

Construction of the highway has languished for decades as other projects, such as the light rail transit system, were moved higher up the list and that needs to stop soon, she said.

"The state needs to move ahead to complete this project in a reasonable amount of time," she said. "The studies have been done and we are ready to move ahead, but we have no funding."

Discussions regarding an upgrade and expansion of the highway began in the 1960s, but something else always came first, but there are many communities, such as New Ulm, who rely on the highway for development, she said.

"At the current level of funding, this project will never get done and projects need to get done in a timely fashion," Sheran said. "Transportation should be a priority of the legislature. I marvel at the capacity to get funding for the light rail system while Highway 14 gets worse."

The expansion of Highway 14 is important because it will help sustain the economy of southern Minnesota and it is a major component of the rural solution, she said.

"I hear and understand the problem with Highway 14," Rep. Tom Workman, R-Chanhassen, said.

The estimate to widen the stretch of Highway 14 between Mankato and New Ulm is $2.5 million, at 1998 figures.