Behind the subscription firewall that makes op-ed copy in the Owatonna People's Press inaccessible to most of the Intertubes, Dick Day fights a lonely battle against Owatonna mayor and head of the Highway 14 Partnership Tom Kuntz--and Congressman Tim Walz, whom Day hopes to challenge in 2008.
Kuntz and Walz had an op-ed piece about Highway 14 funding published in the Tuesday, October 30 OPP. The same piece is online at the Winona Daily News as Highway 14 roadwork should not be delayed. Kuntz and Walz wrote in part:
When people from several different communities come together to fight for a common cause, it makes a powerful statement.
In the case of U.S. Highway 14, the statement could not be clearer. The members of the Highway 14 Partnership span southern Minnesota, representing diverse towns and diverse economic interests, but they are all in agreement about the need to move forward quickly with the upgrade of Highway 14.
MnDOT recently decided that, if it becomes necessary to delay funding for greater Minnesota transportation projects to help pay for reconstruction of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, the Waseca-Owatonna phase of the Highway 14 project will be one of the first projects delayed. That is unacceptable.
Day simply couldn't let that pass. In "Using pessimism to get headlines," Day wrote in a column published yesterday:
First off, no one has said that Highway 14 is in jeopardy at this point.
Curious. We've been reading about and linking to the threat to the Highway 14 project for a while. On October 12, the Mankato Free Press reported in Area road projects in line for biggest losses:
No MnDOT district other than the Mankato-based District 7 has deferred projects of more than $5.8 million under the plan released to lawmakers by Transportation Commissioner and Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau.
The delay of one area project — the $4.8 million for right-of-way acquisition for the expansion of Highway 14 between Waseca and Owatonna — surpasses the total list of proposed project delays in three other MnDOT districts.
Reaction to the plan by area transportation advocates ranged from exasperated to angry.
“It becomes very clear that either the governor or the lieutenant governor care very little about the deaths on Highway 14,” said North Mankato Mayor Gary Zellmer, a member of the Area Transportation Partnership.
The partnership helps determine the priority list for transportation spending in the district and has focused virtually all of the available funding on the Highway 14 expansion in coming years. If the right-of-way acquisition is delayed by the proposed shift of funding to the bridge project, the expansion project will be on hold — along with all of the other regional projects that could have been done if the district hadn’t committed to focusing $65 million on Highway 14, Zellmer said.
“This is the second time they’ve pulled this money,” Zellmer said, saying the state previously delayed providing part of its share of the Highway 14 project to cover a shortfall in funding for the Crosstown Highway/I-35 commons project in south Minneapolis.
On October 3, the Mankato Free Press reported Highway 14 funds could be diverted to bridge. The conservative New Ulm Journal gave a "Thumbs Down" to the possible diversion of funding, and noted:
Highway 14 is one of the most important highway projects in southern Minnesota. It’s too bad the state hasn’t had the foresight to make sure it has the money to handle its major projects while it works on the immediate problem of getting the bridge rebuilt.
Why wasn’t this issue up for discussion during the recent special session of the Legislature, the session dealing with the bridge issue? Because Governor Pawlenty made it clear that he didn’t want the Legislature expanding the agenda and doing something crazy, like raising gasoline taxes for the first time since 1988 to help pay for the state’s portion of the bridge rebuilding, and keeping the rest of our much needed and often delayed projects on schedule.
On September 22, KEYC-TV, Mankato local television station reported Other Projects May See Delays Because of Bridge Reconstruction:
Turning to state news:State transportation officials say they may have to delay other projects in order to get started on the Interstate 35W bridge reconstruction [u]nless legislative leaders give permission to spend money that hasn't been appropriated yet by the federal government.The 195 million-dollar federal funding package for the bridge reconstruction appeared to be on the fast track, but is now trapped in a transportation bill that President Bush has threatened to veto. Officials at MN DOT say the department is going through a list of hundreds of planned projects statewide to see which ones could be postponed if there's a funding delay.
Perhaps Dick Day should start using a computer; he could certainly locate plenty of instances of people saying the Highway 14 was in jeopardy. And since Day thinks everything has been hunky-dory at in St. Paul, he turns to blaming Congress in the column, while suggesting that Walz ask for some more earmarks:
. . .if [Walz]'d like to send home some federal dollars to help expedite construction like Congressman Gutknecht did, that would be wonderful.
We'll remember that the next time we read the NRCC whining about earmarks. There's more:
In the meantime, the most valuable thing he can do is push Congress to make good on its promsie to send Minnesota th money we need to rebuild the bridge.
Today's Mankato Free Press reports Feds release bridge funds. Coleman and Klobuchar provide some bipartisan cheer:
Federal transportation officials released more than $123 million on Thursday for the reconstruction of the collapsed Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, greatly reducing the prospect that funds will need to be diverted from the Highway 14 expansion and other planned road projects in south-central Minnesota.
The release of the federal funds, announced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman, comes after the previous release of $55 million by the Federal Department of Transportation shortly after the August collapse of the bridge.
“This is great news for Minnesota,” Coleman said.
That’s particularly true for south-central Minnesota, which was in line to take the biggest hit of any region in the state under a tentative plan by the Minnesota Department of Transportation to postpone planned construction projects to free up money for the bridge reconstruction — which began this week.
Supporters of the Highway 14 expansion were angry that $4.8 million might be diverted from right-of-way acquisition between Waseca and Owatonna next year in preparation for the expansion of the road to four lanes.
In the St. Paul Pioneer Press report on the release, Feds earmark an additional $123.5 million for 35W span, we read:
The $123.5 million was allocated from an emergency relief fund administered by the Federal Highway Administration. The same fund was at the heart of a testy written exchange between U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Pawlenty.
Oberstar said he was frustrated that the state hadn't applied for those funds, which stood at $175 million before Thursday's announcement. Overall, Minnesota received $128 million of those funds, including $4.8 million in flood relief for southeast Minnesota. The state of Louisiana received $18.5 million to cover indirect costs associated with Hurricane Katrina.
Faced with Oberstar's tongue-lashing, the state defended itself by saying it was working closely with the federal government to identify costs that could be reimbursed. It apparently went ahead and applied for the emergency funds.
"We're glad that they asked and got that in," said John Schadl, a spokesman for Oberstar.
And despite Congress's efforts, there's this (guess Day missed it):
The $195 million appropriation is contingent upon a transportation spending bill that faces a threatened veto from President Bush, who has said the overall bill is too pricey.
"We're confident that the $195 million will stay in the final transportation/HUD appropriation bill," Schadl said.
Curious indeed. Today, the Minnesota Transportation Alliance Annual Convention meets in Rochester. They'll certainly have a lot to talk about. Walz and former Congressman Tim Penny will be there today, according to the agenda.
A side note: the OPP doesn't note that Day hopes to challenge Walz in Congress and says that Day serves as Senate Minority Leader in the State Senate. Wonder what this guy thinks about that.
We'll have more on other issues later this evening, but now work calls. Who knew Walz was as powerful as Oberstar and Peterson?
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