Minnesota's Road To Recovery: An Analysis Of Transportation Recovery Projects

MINNESOTA’S ROAD TO RECOVERY AN ANALYSIS OF TRANSPORTATION RECOVERY PROJECTS Conrad deFiebre Minnesota 2020 Fellow Summer 2009

Table of Contents___ Executive Summary

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Recovery in Minnesota Communities

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The Way Forward

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Recovery Projects By County

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Airport Recovery Projects

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Acknowledgements Minnesota 2020 would like to thank Operating Engineers Local 49, McLeod County, and Metro Transit for photos. Project data compiled by MN2020 Communications Associate Ted Modrich.

Executive Summary___________________ Creaky old timber bridges are being replaced. Rough roads are getting new pavement. Deteriorating regional airport runways are being rehabbed. Twin Cities transit riders will hop on new diesel-sipping hybrid buses. Suburban drivers will ply new interchanges and a freeway extension. And a rusting Minnesota icon, Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge, is receiving the final phase of a once-in-a-lifetime paint job. It’s all thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package enacted to counter a recession that has obliterated 5.4 million U.S. jobs in past year1, 99,7000 of them in Minnesota.2 While the plan will support worthwhile efforts from education, health care and unemployment benefits to clean water, housing and senior nutrition, the earliest and most visible impacts in Minnesota are on the roads, bridges, transit services and other transportation assets that put our economy on the move.

Photo Courtesey: Local 49

Minnesota is expected to reap about $4 billion from the act over two years, creating or preserving tens of thousands of jobs. Some of the biggest employment boosts will come with a new emphasis on shoring up public infrastructure. That’s a long-overdue development, and one of the most effective and best-targeted strategies for renewed economic vigor. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com and an adviser to U.S. Sen. John McCain, estimates that every dollar of infrastructure spending boosts domestic output by $1.59.3 The $959 million of stimulus aimed at Minnesota infrastructure4 will produce nearly 26,000 jobs5 and an economic gain of more than half a billion dollars. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Total U.S. nonfarm, all employees. Data extracted June 16, 2009. http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/ SurveyOutputServlet?series_id=CES0000000001&data_tool=XGtable U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment: April 2009. May 22, 2009. Table D. http://www. bls.gov/news.release/pdf/laus.pdf 2

Los Angeles Times, Nov. 9, 2008. “As a road to a better economy, an old idea gains ground.” http://www.latimes.com/news/ nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-infrastructure9-2008nov09,0,5723676.story 3

Minnesota Management & Budget, Status of ARRA Federal Funds Requests, April 29, 2009. http://www.mmb.state.mn.us/doc/ citizen/status-arra.pdf $959 million infrastructure total includes energy efficiency and weatherization, school improvement funds, clean water and drinking water, highways, airports and transit. 4

4

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Minnesota Economy at a Glance. http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/print.pl/eag/eag.mn.htm

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The Federal Highway Administration calculates that each $1 billion of highway construction generates 27,000 jobs.

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Among the hardest-hit Minnesotans in this downturn are construction workers. In just the 12 months from March 2008 to March 2009, 20,200 construction jobs in the state disappeared. That was a 17.7 percent falloff, nearly five times Minnesota’s overall job-loss rate of 3.6 percent.6 And those figures don’t reflect the many construction workers now relegated to part-time duty at part-time pay, said Dave Semerad, chief executive officer of Associated General Contractors of Minnesota. As much as 70 percent of Minnesota’s construction industry has been idled, he said. “That’s a huge economic engine sitting on the sidelines ready to go to work,” he added.7 John Engler, the Republican former governor of Michigan and now president of the National Association of Manufacturers, hailed the stimulus package’s advantages for the private sector. “Public investments that improve and modernize our transportation infrastructure at this time of great uncertainty will help prepare the nation for its rebound by keeping steel mills going, cement trucks rolling, equipment manufacturing lines moving and Americans employed,” he said.8 The strong federal recovery package also is a step toward reversing Washington’s decades-long withdrawal from support of the nation’s capital assets. Between 1980 and 2004, the federal share of all U.S. spending on transportation and water infrastructure dropped from 38 percent to 24 percent.9 States and local governments strained to make up the difference, but the American Society of Civil Engineers still reports a national infrastructure deficit of $2.2 trillion, more than $5 billion of it in Minnesota.10 The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s draft statewide transportation plan projects $65 billion in needs for the highway system over the next 20 years, including $16 billion for road and bridge preservation alone. The total revenue expected over that period: only $15 billion.11 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Minnesota Economy at a Glance. http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/print.pl/eag/eag.mn.htm 7

Telephone interview, May 11, 2009.

Trafficworld Online, Oct. 30, 2008. “NAM Chief Urges 25-year Infrastructure Plan.” http://www.trafficworld.com/newssection/ government.asp?id=48393 8

Congressional Budget Office, “Trends in Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1956-2004, August 2007, Table A-1, pp. 28-29. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/85xx/doc8517/08-08-Infrastructure.pdf 9

American Society of Civil Engineers. 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, Minnesota summary. http://www.asce.org/ reportcard/2005/page.cfm?id=63 10

Minnesota Department of Transportation, “Your Destination … Our Priority,” Executive Summary, Draft Minnesota Statewide Transportation Plan 2009-2028. http://www.dot.state.mn.us/planning/stateplan/pdfs/1%20ExecutiveSummary.pdf 11

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Amid challenges this massive, the recovery act won’t fix all the roads and bridges that need attention in Minnesota. And it won’t solve all the problems in the construction industry, especially its once-booming residential and commercial building sectors, now mired in a virtual depression. But the one-time spike in transportation spending, about half the state’s typical yearly budget for roads and bridges, will reverse heavy construction job losses while producing safer, more efficient, prosperity-boosting ways to get around for decades to come. Now it’s up to the state to capitalize on this one-time funding by maintaining road, bridges and transit in the years to come.

Key Findings • The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act offers a once-in-lifetime opportunity to catch up on lagging federal infrastructure investments, which fell from 38 percent of all such U.S. spending in 1980 to 24 percent in 2004. • Over the same period, Minnesota ran up a $5 billion infrastructure deficit, according to the American Society of Engineers. The Minnesota Department of Transportation envisions an even greater shortfall just to meet performance standards for state highways over the next 20 years: $65 billion in needs, only $15 billion in projected revenue. • Minnesota has already allocated a total of $585 million in stimulus dollars to repair, maintain and improve roads, bridges, airport runways and public transit systems. The recovery act’s impact on Minnesota infrastructure is both broad and deep, covering every corner of the state. Many of the projects had been delayed for years for lack of funding. • Less than half the pavement on Minnesota’s arterial routes is rated in good condition; the rest ranges from poor to fair. The average Minnesota driver pays a hidden tax of $347 a year in extra vehicle costs because of bad roads. • MnDOT has already signaled a return to its long-stated policy of “preservation first” for trunk highways. That will begin to reverse disastrous deterioration of the system during much of this decade. And it comports with an historic shift in Minnesota travel patterns toward transit and intercity rail and away from driving and airliners. • Conservative economists have endorsed New Deal-style infrastructure stimulus to reduce unemployment and set the stage for a strong recovery. Mark Zandi, an adviser to U.S. Sen. John McCain, estimates that every dollar spent on infrastructure boosts domestic output by $1.59. • Infrastructure spending is particularly welcome in this deep recession, when 20,200 Minnesota construction jobs, more than one in six, disappeared. Construction’s 17.7 percent job loss in Minnesota is nearly five times the state’s overall rate. Infrastructure projects financed by the recovery act are estimated to support 26,000 jobs. • Minnesotans may be skeptical of federal spending to bail out failing banks and automakers, but they support a recovery package that is transforming the state before their eyes, in near-record time. The Minnesota Department of Transportation obligated half of its $502 million in recovery funds for roads and bridges in half the time required by the federal government. Creaky timber bridges are being replaced Minnesota’s Road to Recovery

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with concrete and steel. Highway interchanges are being upgraded. Rough roads are being resurfaced. New fuel-sipping hybrid buses are on the way. And Duluth’s iconic Aerial Lift Bridge is getting a paint job to reverse decades of rust.

Recommendations • While the recovery act provides a fine model for Minnesota to keep chipping away at its infrastructure deficit, its funding source – federal deficit spending – does not. The state will need sustainable revenue from transportation users long after the recovery act has expired. • That means state leaders, sooner or later, will have to increase collections from fuel taxes, vehicle registrations, congestion-based tolls and probably transit fares as well. • Last year, legislators took an important first step, raising some of those user charges for the first time in 20 years. By then, inflation had stripped a third of the gas tax’s buying power, and it still hasn’t nearly caught up to its real value in 1988. Minnesota policymakers should consider automatically adjusting the rate for inflation. • The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents a gallon hasn’t been raised since 1993, reducing its buying power to 12.5 cents today. Inflation doesn’t reduce income, sales and property tax revenue because they automatically follow changes in wages and prices. As Congress votes on new surface transportation funding authorization this year, it should also adopt an inflation adjustment in fuel or mileage tax rates. • As driving’s share of travel declines, further road and bridge expansions should be carefully chosen from projects offering the very best returns in safety, economic efficiency and congestion reduction. Meanwhile, greater emphasis must be put on transit and fast intercity passenger trains, which are gaining popularity despite fare increases, service cuts and funding shortfalls. 4

Minnesota’s Road to Recovery

Recovery in Minnesota Communities__ Here are stories from around the state that show how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is improving our vital infrastructure.

McLeod County: A Bridge Too Rickety Minnesota has 5,000 bridges that are at least 50 years old.12 Even with proper maintenance, bridges typically last no more than 80 years. While Minnesota has embarked on an ambitious program to restore these bridges, many spans will have to wait another century before being upgraded or replaced because of underfunding.

Complicating matters, roughly 150 of these bridges have historic or architectural significance, making them even more costly to restore or upgrade. Built in 1960, the timber bridge that carries County Rd. 7 over High Island Creek near Stewart, Minn., looks like something a century older. Its wooden pilings and substructure are dangerously deteriorated, and the span is off-limits to trucks over 10 tons. That’s inadequate for such a busy farm-to-market route, said County Engineer John Brunkhorst.13 At a cost of $500,000 provided by the recovery act, the old bridge will be replaced with a concrete structure ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 12 Brian Ojanpa, Mankato Free Press, June 9, 2009. “Bridge faces two fates.” Article quotes Kristen Zschomler of MnDOT’s Cultural Resources Unit. 13

Telephone interview, May 2009.

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this summer. The job, expected to employ 14 workers, should be done by late summer, Brunkhorst said. That’s at least a year earlier than the county had planned with existing funding streams. The new span is designed to last at least 80 years. Timber bridges are surprisingly common in 21st century Minnesota. At least four other wooden spans, in Marshall, Sherburne and Waseca counties, will be upgraded to concrete this year with the help of federal stimulus. Most of the work wouldn’t have been done until 2012 at the earliest without the program, county engineers say. Waseca County’s two lowest-rated spans, along County Rd. 3 near Janesville, Minn., are among those getting earlier replacement this year thanks to more than $1 million in recovery aid, said County Engineer Nathan Richman.14 “We’ve had them scheduled for three years and have been rolling them because of funding problems,” he said. “Now we’ll be able to fix more miles of roads, too.” On Sherburne County Rd. 5, 1,150 cars a day traverse a 1954 timber bridge over the St. Francis River in the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. With badly rotting piers, it has a sufficiency rating of 20 out of 100 (50 is the minimum for structural soundness) and an eight-ton load restriction. A new concrete bridge financed by $620,000 from the recovery act will go up this summer, said County Engineer Rhonda Lewis.15 “It’s a route of regional significance,” she said. “Our infrastructure has really been neglected.” Marshall County will replace a 57-year-old timber bridge on County Rd. 15 west of Warren, Minn., a key route for sugar beet farmers to reach the American Crystal plant in nearby East Grand Forks. On Marshall County Rd. 7 near Thief River Falls, a 71-year-old steel girder bridge will be replaced as well. The two concrete culvert projects are financed with $467,000 from the recovery act. “We could use legislation like that every year,” said Marshall County Engineer Lon Aune. “It would help us get caught up.”16 In all, at least 43 highway and street bridges from far northwest Kittson County to Rochester in the southeast will be replaced or repaired under the program for a total of $41 million.17 In Fergus Falls, $1.1 million in recovery funds will accelerate replacement of the Concord Street bridge over the Otter Tail River from planned construction in 2012 to this year. Built in 1965, the old bridge has deteriorating structural members, is too narrow for its traffic load and is “close to being weight-posted,” said City Engineer Dan Edwards.18 The new poured-in-place concrete pilings and span should last 60 to 75 years, he said. “We’re not short of needs,” he said. “This helps our other projects, too.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14 Telephone interview, May 2009. 15

Telephone interview, May 2009.

14

Telephone interview, May 2009.

Minnesota Department of Transportation, Greater Minnesota Local Transportation Projects. http://www.dot.state.mn.us/ federalrecovery/lists/greater-mn-stateaid-projects.pdf and Greater Minnesota MnDOT Projects. http://www.dot.state.mn.us/ federalrecovery/lists/greater-mn-final.pdf 17

18

Telephone interview, May 2009.

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Minnesota’s Road to Recovery

In Minneapolis, the Lowry Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River has been closed to all traffic for more than a year because tilting century-old wooden piers are deemed in danger of collapse. Now, an infusion of $10 million from the recovery act will allow the $65 million replacement project to begin in the fall instead of the planned 2011 timeline. Funds from the Hennepin County and the state will also contribute. Replacement of Rochester’s oldest city bridge, the 1930 steel-beam span carrying 4th Street SE over Bear Creek near downtown, also is being advanced three years, thanks to $3.5 million in recovery funds. Today, 15,000 cars a day traverse the 79-year-old bridge, which has a structural rating of 48 (50 is the minimum for sufficiency). The new concrete-beam span is expected to last 100 years, said Doug Nelson, Rochester public works engineering manager.19

Duluth: Preserving a Community Icon Erected in 1905, the steel superstructure of the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge went nearly a century without a complete refurbishing, sandblasting and repainting. The results were predictable: Rust ate away walkways, joints and structural girders; mechanical systems dating to 1930 grew old and balky.20 Something had to be done to preserve the city-owned span, which carries nearly 10,000 cars a day across the Duluth harbor canal, periodically raises 138 feet to allow the passage of 5,500 ships per year and is the only street connection to the mainland for 430 homes on Park Point.21 Because of the complexity of mechanical, electrical and structural systems and the extent of deterioration, costs were daunting. Most of the work could be done only during winter port closures, using elaborate heated enclosures. In 2001, the city launched the project’s first phase, $7 million worth of stripping, painting and mechanical replacement. It took seven more years to round up $2 million for additional painting, structural and concrete work now being completed. City Engineer Cindy Voigt said a further delay of five to 10 years was expected before the

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19 Telephone interview, May 2009. 20

City of Duluth, PowerPoint presentation.

21

Cindy Voigt, Duluth city engineer, telephone interview, May 2009.

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final phase, stripping and repainting the 227-foot-high overhead truss and towers, could be financed. Enter the federal recovery act. It will provide $5 million to finish the job, with work expected to begin this fall and finish by 2011. When it’s done, workers will have sandblasted 276,000 square feet of lattice-truss steel and applied three coats of silver-gray moisture-cure urethane paint that should stand up as long as 30 years. Another complete re-sandblasting should not be needed for a half century or more with periodic maintaining of the new paint system, said Joe Litman, Duluth’s consulting engineer on the project.22 “This is great news for the city of Duluth,” said state Rep. Roger Reinert, a former Duluth City Council member.23

Lino Lakes: Resurrecting a Stalled Project Millions in stimulus money has also resurrected projects long-stalled because of underfunding, opening new opportunities for responsible growth in Minnesota. Many new projects, from housing to commercial and retail development, needed wider more efficient roadways to prevent major intersection delays and breakdowns. This infusion of up-front money has also saved taxpayers from greater project expenses down the road. As new highway and bridge construction is delayed year after year, the original estimate for a project has tended to skyrocket because of booms in the demand for construction material, such as steel, concrete and fuel. The two-lane Main Street overpass across Interstate Hwy. 35E in Lino Lakes is a rush hour nightmare, with long lines of commuters making left turns at “diamond” ramps controlled by traffic signals. Population growth in the area has piled traffic pressure on a spot six miles from the freeway’s nearest full access points. Anoka County Engineer Doug Fisher said a new semi-cloverleaf interchange with a six-lane overpass has been on the drawing board for years.24 “We had it scheduled; we had it designed,” he said. Then projected costs rose from $9 million to $15 million. Even though 35E is part of the state trunk highway system that gets 62 percent of Minnesota gasoline taxes ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 22

Telephone interview, May 11, 2009.

23

Duluth News-Tribune, April 10, 2009. “Aerial Lift Bridge project a matter of preservation, not cosmetics”

24

Telephone interview, May 20, 2009.

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Minnesota’s Road to Recovery

and tab fees, the state had no money to add to the $4.4 million committed by Anoka County and Lino Lakes and millions more secured from the federal government by former U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy. “The stimulus ($4.8 million) essentially saved this absolutely critical project,” Fisher said. “Without that, it would not have happened.” Bids will be let this summer, he said. Construction will be complicated by a need to leave the existing bridge open, but work should be completed next year, he added.

St. Louis Park: A Much-Needed New Interchange The traffic-light-controlled intersection of Hwy. 7 and Wooddale Av. has been a congested, accident-prone bottleneck while a planned grade-separated interchange languished on the drawing board for nearly a decade for lack of funds. Now $3.5 million in stimulus money will allow the $12.3 million project to proceed this year, said St. Louis Park City Engineer Scott Brink.25 The job is particularly timely because of a nearby condominium development underway and plans for a lightrail station there, Brink said. “It’s kind of a hot spot,” he said. “Without this project, that intersection would not function after all the development. It would totally break down.” Near Mankato, Minn., a new $3.5 million interchange and bridge will carry Blue Earth County Rd. 12 and the Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail over railroad tracks. In Plymouth, the Hwy. 169 exit ramp to Medicine Lake Rd. will be reconstructed at a cost of $749,000. Interstate Hwy. 494 ramps in Eagan and Eden Prairie will be improved or widened by two recovery projects totaling $2.4 million. And in Minnesota’s biggest individual stimulus project of all, $66 million in new federal funds will fast-track a long-delayed $86 million extension of four-lane Hwy. 610 in the northwest suburbs. Local officials say the new 2-1/2-mile stretch of freeway is needed to complement a Target Corp. expansion project in Brooklyn Park and the December opening of a North Memorial/Fairview Hospital in Maple Grove.26

Statewide: Smoothing Out the Rough Patches

Photo Courtesey: Local 49

Less than half the pavement on Minnesota’s arterial routes is rated in good condition; the rest ranges from poor to fair.27 The average Minnesota driver pays a

hidden tax of $347 a year in extra vehicle costs because of bad roads.28 At more than 50 different locations across the state, stimulus projects will resurface or rebuild hundreds of ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 25

Telephone interview, May 2009.

Dan Olson, Minnesota Public Radio. “Minnesota’s biggest stimulus project proves controversial,” April 1, 2009. http://minnesota. publicradio.org/display/web/2009/03/31/minnesotas_biggest_stimulus_project_proves_controversial/ 26

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. “Rough Roads Ahead: Fix Them Now or Pay for it Later,” p. 10, Pavement Conditions by State, 2007. http://roughroads.transportation.org/RoughRoads_FullReport.pdf 27

28

Ibid., p. 11.

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miles of roads and city streets. Along Interstate Hwy. 90 in southeastern Minnesota alone, 44 miles of failing roadway between Alden and the Mississippi River will be resurfaced at a cost of $25.4 million. I-90 in Mower County will get four new overpasses. Starting this summer is a $13.1 million reconstruction and overlay of Hwy. 169 through downtown St. Peter, including replacement of utility lines and safety improvements. Ramsey County is using $2.5 million in stimulus funds toward an $11.5 million reconstruction of White Bear Ave. in Maplewood. Scott County got $7.3 million toward a $14 million resurfacing of County Rd. 21 in Prior Lake and Shakopee. Also in the Twin Cities, MnDOT received $49 million to resurface Interstate Hwy. 94 in Rogers, Hassan, Dayton and Maple Grove, I35W in Arden Hills and Blaine, Hwy. 252 in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park, Hwy. 3 in Rosemount and Inver Grove Heights, Hwy. 5 in Oakdale, Lake Elmo, Baytown and Oak Park Heights, Hwy. 52 in Inver Grove Heights and Rosemount, Hwy. 95 in Stillwater and New Scandia and Hwy. 10 in Blaine and Mounds View. In northeastern Minnesota, MnDOT is resurfacing parts of Hwys. 23, 53, 61, 65, 169 and 194 with $37.7 million in recovery funds. In the northwest, pavement overlay projects on Hwys. 1, 2, 6, 220 and 310 total $14.3 million. In central Minnesota, Hwys. 10, I-94, 95 and 169 will get surface work worth $25.8 million. In the west, Hwy. 75 from Ortonville to Graceville ($5 million) and I-94 through much of Otter Tail County ($10 million) are getting new surfaces. West-central Minnesota has $16.9 million in overlay projects on Hwys. 7, 23 and 68.

Regional Airports: Smoother Runways For Minnesota’s smaller communities, regional and municipal airports are vital to attracting and retaining businesses that supply jobs and infuse capital into the local area. Federal stimulus will provide nine outstate cities with more than $20 million for a variety of air traffic upgrades, including rehabbing runways and terminal buildings. “These ARRA-funded airport improvements will increase the ability of Greater Minnesota airports to meet the needs of communities, businesses and other travelers that rely on air transportation,” said Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel. “They will also go a long way toward enhancing the economic viability of the region and communities where they are located.”29 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 29 Finance and Commerce. “Outstate Minnesota airports get stimulus dollars,” April 2, 2009.

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Minnesota airports in Albert Lea, Baudette, Bemidji, Chisholm-Hibbing, Mankato, Redwood Falls and Windom will receive $12.4 million to rehab runways and terminal aprons. In addition, the St. Cloud and Duluth airports will get $8 million for terminal building improvements. Duluth is planning to finish a new $42 million airport terminal within three years, aided by $7.1 million from the recovery act and $4.9 million in newly enacted state capital investment borrowing.

Twin Cities: Better Buses for a Changed Transportation Market In 2008, the average American drove the same distance per year as in 1998, recording the largest annualized drops in vehicle miles traveled (90 billion) and per capita VMT (388 miles) since World War II.30 Minnesotans put in 221 million fewer miles behind the wheel in January 2009 than in January 2008,31 reaching a low point not seen in at least five years. This historic drop in driving began before fuel prices spiked and has persisted despite their sharp fall since early July 2008. Part of the reason is rising unemployment and reduced shopping and leisure travel in the current recession. But some experts predict the trend won’t reverse when the economy improves. “People are changing their driving habits,” said Jack Finn, senior vice president of HNTB, an infrastructure consulting firm that designed a significant portion of the U.S. Interstate System. “They’re taking fewer trips, there’s less driving, more carpooling and part of that lifestyle change will continue.”32 Americans are still on the move, just via different transportation modes. Bus and rail transit especially is steadily gaining riders. Nationwide, transit ridership increased 4 percent in 2008, totaling 10.7 billion trips, the most in 52 years.33 Transit gains in Minnesota for the year were even greater: 14.2 percent in Anoka County, 6.8 percent for the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority and 6.3 percent for Photo Courtesey: Metro Transit Metro Transit. Patronage on Minnesota’s only light rail line, the Hiawatha, was up 12.3 percent.34 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 30 Robert Puentes and Adie Tomer, Brookings Institution, December 2008. “The Road…Less Traveled: An Analysis of Vehicle Miles Traveled Trends in the U.S.” p. 8. http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2008/1216_transportation_ tomer_puentes/vehicle_miles_traveled_report.pdf 31

Federal Highway Administration, January 2009 Traffic Trends. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/09jantvt/page6.cfm

USA Today, Nov. 19, 2008, “Americans driving less, unmoved by lower gas prices.” http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200811-19-driving_N.htm 32

33

American Public Transit Association, Transit News, March 9, 2009. http://www.apta.com/media/releases/090309_ridership.cfm

APTA Transit Ridership Report, Fourth Quarter 2008, p. 13. http://www.apta.com/research/stats/ridership/riderep/ documents/08q4rep.pdf 34

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The recovery act offers smart investments for this change in the transportation market. Metro Transit and other Twin Cities regional mobility services will get nearly $70 million for 133 new buses, plus capital costs of preventative maintenance that will help balance operating budgets, said Metropolitan Council spokesman Steve Dornfeld.35 Metro Transit has designated $49.6 million in stimulus funds for 30 hybrid buses and 60 with standard diesel power, 29 of them double-length articulated models. Metro Mobility, the ride service for the handicapped, will get 15 hybrid vans and one standard van for $1.8 million. Other community dial-a-ride systems will receive 27 standard vans worth $1.4 million. Another $17.8 million in recovery money will cover maintenance work, plugging up to one-quarter of regional transit’s projected two-year operating deficit. In addition, $25 million in recovery funds will go to outstate transit systems through MnDOT.36 Recovery money will soon flow to the state for rail projects as well, giving Minnesota a unique opportunity to improve transportation options on all fronts in the coming year. The Met Council’s sewer system is in line for another $11 million in recovery funds for work at the Blue Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant in Shakopee, wastewater collection in the Victoria-Waconia area and upgrades of aging sewers serving South St. Paul and Inver Grove Heights. “We accelerated these projects when it became clear that federal economic stimulus funding would become available, and they are on track for awarding contracts in June,” said Bryce Pickart of Met Council Environmental Services.37 Statewide, clean water and clean drinking water stimulus grants will total more than $107 million.38

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 35 Telephone interview, May 14, 2009. 36

Minnesota Management & Budget, Status of AARA Federal Funds Requests, April 29, 2009.

Metropolitan Council. “Federal stimulus funds to be invested in regional infrastructure.” http://www.metrocouncil.org/directions/ planning/planning2009/ARRAApr09.htm 37

Minnesota Management & Budget, Status of ARRA Federal Funds Requests, April 29, 2009. http://www.mmb.state.mn.us/doc/ citizen/status-arra.pdf 38

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The Way Forward_____________________ Most Minnesotans are skeptical of the federal government’s efforts to prop up failing banks and auto companies in the current recession. But 55 percent of state adults surveyed in a recent Star Tribune Minnesota Poll approved the recovery package.39 Maybe it’s because they can already see the effects in their own communities. MnDOT obligated half of its $502 million in recovery funds in half the time required by the federal government.40 That meant projects ramped up and workers were hired in near record time. But haste didn’t make waste. MnDOT and the Metropolitan Council selected projects based not only on “shovelreadiness,” but also consistency with existing performancebased plans, statewide distribution of work and a mix of project types to ensure broad job creation and the best possible contract prices.41 Bargains for taxpayers are already materializing. Contracts for the first $165 million in MnDOT road and bridge projects financed by the stimulus have come in 10 to 15 percent lower than estimates. That’s a savings so far of about $20 million.42 “A lot of these bids are coming in well below what was really thought might be the cost for the projects and that will enable us, I think, to have money to spend that maybe we didn’t really realize,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “…Hopefully that will create some additional dollars and create some additional jobs.”43 Meanwhile, however, traditional user funding for transportation projects is flagging on both state and federal levels. MnDOT, for example, is facing a $150 million shortfall in its regular highway and bridge construction budget over the next two years, largely because of declining vehicle registration and sales tax collections.44 Unless revenues increase again, important projects such as planned replacements in the next few years of the structurally deficient Lafayette and Hastings bridges over the Mississippi River could be affected.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 39 Kevin Diaz, Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 29, 2009. “Minnesota Poll: Boosts to economy get a thumbs up.” 40

Minnesota Department of Transportation news release, April 30, 2009. http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/09/04/30-arra.html

Minnesota Department of Transportation. MnDOT’s Approach to the Economic Recovery Program – Highway Infrastructure, Jan. 29, 2009. http://www.dot.state.mn.us/federalrecovery/approach/highway1-20-09.pdf 41

42

Jon Chiglo, MnDOT stimulus projects manager, telephone interview, June 4, 2009.

43

Henry C. Jackson, the Associated Press, April 1, 2009.

44

Jim Foti, Star Tribune, April 3, 2009. “MnDOT may cut back highway, bridge plans.”

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The federal highway trust fund has hit similar difficulties, requiring an $8 billion cash infusion from non-user tax money last fall to stave off insolvency. Congress and former President George W. Bush did the right thing then by shoring up the fund, but that’s not a sustainable long-term strategy for maintaining our economically vital transportation infrastructure. Neither is the recovery act, with its reliance on federal borrowing and deficit spending to do indispensable jobs that ought to be honestly financed on a pay-as-you-go basis. And that points to a need for higher user charges such as fuel taxes, mileage fees and transit fares. Congress will consider steps like that as it reauthorizes–and, it is to be hoped, increases—federal surface transportation funding this year. That could help Minnesota to make sure its roads, bridges, buses and rails fuel an economic resurgence. But state leaders will have to do their part as well, with a hard look at Minnesota’s needs and the will to marshal the resources to meet them. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act clearly demonstrates the wisdom of that course of action. It is creating jobs we need now and mobility improvements that will serve us for generations. It’s up to Minnesota policymakers to maintain the momentum of the stimulus with long-range investments in the stuff that keeps our economy moving.

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Appendix A - Recovery Projects By County___ County Aitkin Anoka Becker Beltrami Benton Big Stone Blue Earth Carlton Cass Chippewa Chisago Clay Clearwater Cook Cottonwood Crow Wing Dakota Douglas Fairbault Freeborn Goodhue Grant Hennepin Hubbard Isanti Itsaca Jackson Kanabec Kandiyohi Kittson Koochiching Lake Lake of the Woods Le Sueur Lincoln Lyon Marshall Martin McLeod Mille Lacs Morrison Mower Murray Nicollet Nobles Norman Olmsted Otter Tail Pennington Pipestone Polk

In-County Projects 2 3 2 9 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 1 3 6 1 2 3 4 1 14 2 4 5 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 3 4 5 2 1 3 4 1 2

Multi-County Projects 2 2 1 5 1 2 1

1 2 2 1 1 2 1 3 1

3 2 1

2 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2

In-County Funding $8,050,000 $15,000,000 $484,000 $17,846,000 $7,000,000 $5,200,000 $100,000 $14,360,000 $66,000 $2,274,000 $1,630,000 $1,196,250 $1,066,000 $9,854,000 $1,125,000 $3,964,000 $17,539,750 5,009,727 $10,000,000 $108,337,963 $664,000 $4,812,120 $8,256,405 $698,000 $1,824,280 $4,164,000 $785,000 $110,000 $250,000 $64,000 $1,439,000 $400,000 $9,067,920 $66,000 $500,000 $12,832,141 $2,248,000 $6,742,000 $11,000,000 $1,600,000 $5,223,000 $4,414,000 $178,000 $64,000 $750,000

Population 15,736 327,090 32,000 43,835 39,878 5,365 60,401 33,933 28,732 12,414 50,257 55,767 8,249 5,437 11,283 62,172 392,755 36,258 14,624 30,927 45,897 6,005 1,140,988 18,810 39,105 44,512 10,734 16,091 40,679 4,462 13,251 10,609 3,985 28,042 5,837 24,844 9,502 20,435 37,165 26,377 32,893 37,859 8,389 32,027 20,365 6,605 141,360 56,786 13,747 9,395 30,694

Lane Miles 3,578.36 4,938.84 4,413.70 4,926.66 2,013.07 1,912.61 3,553.25 2,496.05 6,043.47 2,415.73 2,324.10 4,421.63 2,529.76 1,398.35 2,549.62 4,077.84 5,589.40 3,136.59 2,967.12 3,241.05 3,360.94 2,186.95 11,976.25 2,958.30 2,177.58 6,593.86 2,926.18 1,671.06 3,430.93 3,344.66 2,769.16 2,057.00 1,391.86 2,089.98 2,136.22 2,965.49 5,719.30 3,076.55 2,261.70 2,121.51 3,951.66 3,231.71 2,768.36 1,851.23 3,099.45 3,192.03 3,849.26 8,027.95 2,291.46 1,933.95 7,583.91

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Pope Ramsey Red Lake Redwood Renville Rice Rock Roseau St. Louis Scott Sherburne Sibley Stearns Steele Stevens Swift Todd Traverse Wabasha Waseca Washington Watonwan Wilkin Winona Wright Yellow Medicine

2 2 1 2 1 1 10 1 2 1 8 2 1 1 2 1 3 4 1 4 3 2

2 1 1 2

1 3 3 1 5 2 2

2 3 1 1 1 1 2

$242,000 $11,500,000 $3,900,000 $414,130 $4,064,000 $66,000 $450,000 $51,866,000 $13,985,000 $1,470,000 $480,000 $12,929,000 $1,200,000 $275,000 $175,000 $7,991,090 $1,941,783 $1,025,000 $12,704,000 $225,000 $8,441,000 $3,208,637 $1,729,000

11,030 501,428 4,069 15,493 15,861 62,390 9,476 15,865 196,864 128,937 87,660 14,954 147,076 36,546 9,661 11,035 23,917 3,660 21,813 19,443 229,173 10,860 6,286 49,879 119,701 9,958

2,478.03 4,485.74 1,582.51 3,432.58 3,797.99 2,624.66 2,070.92 4,640.44 11,738.94 2,647.61 2,701.09 2,278.80 6,594.09 1,965.89 2,155.20 2,868.85 3,797.51 2,237.17 2,020.35 1,770.36 3,947.66 1,823.06 3,053.55 2,646.64 4,165.87 3,014.25

Project data current as of June 15, 2009. For constantly updated numbers, visit www.mn2020.org.

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Appendix B - Airport Recovery Projects____ County

Airport

Freeborn Freeborn Lake of the Woods Beltrami

Albert Lea Municipal Albert Lea Municipal Baudette International Bemidji Rgnl

St. Louis

Duluth Intl

St. Louis

Chisholm-Hibbing

Blue Earth Redwood Sherburne

Mankato Rgnl Redwood Falls Municipal St Cloud Rgnl

Cottonwood Hennepin

Windom Muni Flying Cloud

Description Rehabilitate Runway 04/22 Construct Runway - 16/34 Rehabilitate Runway 12/30 Rehabilitate Apron Construct Terminal Building [2009 construction and design for 2010 construction] Rehabilitate Runway 04/22; Rehabilitate Runway 13/31 Rehabilitate Runway 04/22 Rehabilitate Runway 12/30 Improve Terminal Building Rehabilitate Runway 17/35 Construct Taxiway

Crow Wing

Brainerd Lakes Regional

Rehabilitate Apron

Amount

Sponsor

$550,000 Albert Lea $3,043,750 Albert Lea $250,000 Baudette $500,000 Bemidji

$7,100,000 Duluth $4,440,000 Hibbing $1,000,000 Mankato $1,400,000 Redwood Falls $850,000 St. Cloud $1,196,250 Windom $1,825,700 MAC Brainerd Crow Wing 1,000,000 County

Project data current as of June 15, 2009. For constantly updated numbers, visit www.mn2020.org.

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